


The Body Electric

by JacksonVelour



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24398101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JacksonVelour/pseuds/JacksonVelour
Summary: Set nearly a decade after the conclusion of Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Body Electric explores an alternate reality in which Data adopted Timothy, the boy left orphaned after the tragic accident on the SS Vico. Timothy has long since moved beyond the traumas of his past and has just graduated from Starfleet Academy, but his first away mission ends in a devastating encounter with the Borg. However everything is not as it seems and what Data uncovers will change life on the Enterprise forever.
Comments: 40
Kudos: 10





	1. Observation

Skhalver 3 was a planet hidden away near the Klingon Empire in the Beta Quadrant. It was only recently discovered by pure chance when a Federation ship became stranded in its vicinity. A team of newly graduated officers have been sent to the planet to observe Skhalver’s pre-warp civilisation in secret.

‘Oh look there’s Penny and her mother’ Ensign Amara gasped.  
‘You’re giving them names now?’ Timothy scoffed.  
‘It’s important in xenobiological studies to identify the individuals, Tim!’  
‘Yeah, or maybe you just think Penny is cute.’  
‘Well, yes, she does happen to be very sweet. We have yet to determine how long they live for but I would say she’s the equivalent of three years old, supposing they live as long as Betazoids.’ Then she quickly added ‘or, you know, humans.’ Having spent almost all her life on Betazed, Amara was still not used to including more than one species in her conversations, which Tim had observed had led to some awkward moments back at the academy.

The Skhalverans were a charming race, they were bipedal and intelligent and resembled terrestrial deer. They evoked imagery of woodland spirits found in the ancient folklore of various worlds. Though they seemed beautiful and peaceful, it was uncertain how they would respond to outsiders. Not that the crew could ever make contact due to the Prime Directive.

‘Alright’ Timothy stood up. ‘There shouldn’t be any lag between the controls and the drone now. Give it a test.’  
Amara did so and seemed satisfied, ‘thanks Timothy, you’re brilliant.’  
‘Just doing my job.’

Timothy was about to make his way back to his station when another ensign called to him, ‘Blake, if you’re free, could you have a look at my tricorder, please?’  
‘Again?’  
‘No, this is the medical tricorder this time’.

The observation team was small, as was typical for away missions for new graduates, so Timothy was the only engineer on the crew. The advantage of these smaller groups was that it forced the ensigns to take on larger responsibilities instead of expecting someone else to pick up their slack. Timothy liked being productive, it was sitting around doing nothing that he hated. That’s why he gravitated towards engineering, there was always something to be done even if it was just maintenance and repairs. It’s an interest he had held for most of his life, the few times Geordi showed him through the Jefferies tubes as a child had seemed so adventurous, there was a whole hidden world within the Enterprise. And as he took apart various toys, devices and machines, he realised everything held secrets for him to discover, things to take apart and put back together again.  
The disadvantage of a smaller crew was that it was easy to neglect some of one’s duties. Timothy was focused on taking apart the medical tricorder when a proximity alarm sounded from the computer at his station. He dropped what he was doing and raced over.

Timothy looked at the readout and frowned, he looked up and realised all eyes were on him, he turned to his superior officer, ‘Lieutenant Takayama, are there any ships expected to be in this area at this time?’   
‘No, Ensign Blake, what have you found?’ The lieutenant left her station to observe Tim’s monitor.  
‘Unable to get a clear reading, whatever it is, on its current trajectory there is a 70% chance of contact.’  
‘You mean collision?’  
‘No, sir, I don’t believe it to be space debris, it’s moving too fast for that. Hold on, the scanners have determined the form...Sir, it is a cube. An enormous cube.’  
Tim turned in time to watch the colour drain from Takayama’s face.  
Regaining her composure she hit her communication badge.  
‘Takayama to Enterprise.’   
Nothing.  
‘Takayama to Enterprise, do you read me?’  
‘Blake, what’s happening with the signal?’  
Tim turned back to the monitor, ‘nothing seems to be able to escape beyond the...cube, sir.’  
He knew perfectly well what this unidentified object was, but putting it into words felt forbidden, as if it would summon them like some kind of urban legend.  
‘Is there something wrong, Lieutenant?’ Amara was nearest to their station, a hint of worry at the edge of her voice.  
‘Everything is fine, Ensign. Just a communications glitch.’ Takayama tried to reassure the new recruit.  
‘No, the object, the cube. It’s the Borg isn’t it?’ Panic visibly swept through the outpost.  
‘Ensign, I would ask you not to jump to conclusions and spread misinformation or you will be reprimanded. All we know right now is that there is some object likely heading towards Skhalver, our sensors and communications are disrupted. We can’t make any judgments with what we have just yet.’  
‘But, sir, what do we do if it is the Borg?’ Amara’s eyes had become glassy.  
‘Then we will handle it as Starfleet has always handled it.’  
An eerie silence fell over the observation centre, all eyes out towards the sky, Tim paid no notice. ‘We will have visual in 3...2...1…’

There above them was at first a ghostly white shape, looking like some strange moon visible during the daytime. It continued its impossibly smooth, soundless descent as it penetrated the atmosphere and came to a stop mere kilometres above the capital city of Skhalver.   
The away team looked to their Lieutenant and she looked back at them, they were all children, all newly graduated cadets. They didn’t deserve this fate.  
‘I don’t need to tell you that we are vastly outnumbered and outmatched. We can do nothing for the Skhalveran people. But I intend to get us all back to the Enterprise alive. They will be returning in eight hours, all we have to do is remain hidden here and wait. Blake, can we hide our signatures from their detection?’  
‘Not with the current setup we have, but I think maybe if I…’ He looked around at the equipment at his disposal. ‘Yes, I can create a blindspot, it shouldn’t take too long.’  
‘Excellent, Ensign, we are at your disposal.’

Within an hour the crew had assembled the shield generator, but it didn’t seem to be working, they couldn’t turn it on.  
‘Blake, any ideas?’ Takayama’s voice was tense.  
Tim’s expression fell, ‘yes, I was afraid of this. But I can fix it.’  
And with that he walked straight towards the exit.  
‘Ensign, where do you think you’re going?’ His superior officer called after him.  
‘It won’t work unless I activate it from outside the blindspot.’  
‘But--’ Takayama didn’t know how to argue.  
‘It will only be for a moment, and then we will be safe. What else can we do?’  
Takayama relented. ‘Go. Be quick.’  
‘I know it’s hard, but try not to miss me too much while I’m gone,’ he said with a grin as the door slid closed. 

The crew watched Timothy from the safety of the duckblind, no one said a word, each second seemed like an eternity. And then Amara screamed ‘TIM, RUN!’ But she knew the observation deck was entirely soundproof.  
It seemed as if Timothy had realised he wasn’t alone anyway, he turned and gazed up at the sand dune as two figures descended towards him. They were the Borg, standing in stark contrast, black against the pale pink sand. And yet these Borg were unlike any witnessed by the Federation before. They were still pale of skin and clad in dark augmentations, but they seemed so much more advanced, sleek, intricate, even beautiful.  
Timothy appeared frozen on the spot.  
‘You will be assimilated.’ the two cyborgs spoke in unison.  
Tim cried out in horror and tried to run.  
‘Resistance is futile’ the Borg were indifferent to his reaction. They hit him with a beam weapon which instantly paralysed him, then they were all beamed aboard the alien craft together.

‘We should have done something!’ Marek the Andorian raged, kicking a box out of his way, ‘he was right there!’  
‘Yes, and all that would have accomplished was making more casualties, Ensign.’ the Lieutenant said sternly. ‘Look out there, look at what the Borg are doing to this entire civilisation. What do you expect we can do about it?’  
Marek cooled off a bit, ‘but he was one of us’, he said under his breath.  
‘I know, and while I didn’t get much time to know Timothy, he seemed like a fine officer and-’  
‘You talk as if he’s dead already’, Amara interjected.  
Takayama’s expression darkened, ‘where he’s going there is no return. I’m so sorry.’

They could do nothing but remain hidden, waiting and watching the Skhalveran’s devastating first contact with an alien race. Some crew members couldn’t watch, while others could not look away. At the very least they could spare themselves the sound of screams by simply turning off the external microphones. No one seemed to know what to do with themselves, most just sat there. But when Amara lifted her gaze, she noticed the crew member next to her typing away on her data padd.  
‘What are you doing?’ she croaked.  
‘Writing a message to my parents. I know I can’t send it, but maybe they will find it here.’  
‘No, the Enterprise will come. Don’t think like that.’  
‘You should write one too, just in case.’  
Amara seemed to deflate, she picked up her own data padd and began typing away, it was only now that she started to cry. The image of Captain Picard handing the data padd over to her grieving mother, it crushed her. 

By the time the Enterprise was in orbit, the Borg had long since left without ever detecting the duckblind. The away team looked visibly shaken when they were beamed into the transporter room, and Data wore a similarly worried expression as he stood beside O’Brian, desperate to confirm that his son was okay. But when Takayama beamed aboard last, she confirmed his fears.  
‘Your son was very brave, he sacrificed himself to save us all.’  
It seemed to take Data longer than usual to process this information, there was nothing wrong with his positronics, he had heard what the Lieutenant had said and translated that audio into information in a fraction of a second. But he could execute no response for a few moments, and even then all he could muster was a single quiet ‘no’.

Gaining some control of himself once more, Data raced to the bridge and wasted no time relieving the officer manning his station. He began desperately scanning the area for any faint trace of the ion trail left by the Borg.  
‘Commander, care to inform me of what you’re doing?’ Picard’s voice resonated behind him.  
‘They’ve taken Timothy’ was all Data said, not looking away from the monitor.  
‘Data’.  
‘There, hah, got you!’ Data cried. ‘We can be there in three hours at warp 9.’  
‘Data!’ Picard shouted.  
At this the android jumped and turned to see the captain out of his chair and adjusting his jacket. ‘Observation lounge. Now.’

The senior crewmembers quickly assembled, Riker, Troi, Geordi, Crusher, Data, and Picard at the head of the conference table.  
‘We’re wasting time!’ Data pleaded.  
‘Commander, I understand how difficult this must be for you. It would be trying even for a parent who has had emotions his entire life. But you are an officer of Starfleet and I expect you to behave like one.’ Picard’s tone was equal parts sympathetic and stern.  
Data hung his head.  
‘Now, I agree that time is of the essence, but we must be strategic in our approach, there is no sense jeopardising any more lives.’  
‘There may still be time before he is assimilated’ Crusher offered.  
‘Hmm, yes, especially having taken so many people at once’ Picard was always disturbed at how easily the knowledge acquired during his time as Locutus returned to him. He knew exactly how they thought, how they operated. His sympathies were truly with Timothy, the boy had already suffered more trauma in two decades than most do in a lifetime. He knew that one did not simply escape the Borg, they haunted you, got inside you, down to your core, perhaps forever.

‘And the process of assimilation is reversible’, Crusher continued.  
‘Yes, but let us hope it doesn’t come to that’  
At that moment, Lieutenant Takayama entered the room ‘you wanted to see me, sir?’  
‘Yes, lieutenant, take a seat.’ Picard gestured to the end of the table. ‘Would you be able to explain just what exactly happened on Skhalver?’  
The lieutenant recounted the events that had transpired that day as efficiently but in as much detail as she could recall.   
‘What was he doing outside of the duckblind?’ Geordi asked once Takayama had concluded her story.  
‘He said the shield couldn’t be activated from within the perimeter of the conduits.’  
La Forge nodded but said nothing.  
‘Something amiss, La Forge?’ Picard asked.  
‘No, sir, just checking. He did what he could with what he had available to work with.’

‘You said these Borg were killing people who resisted?’ Data finally looked up from the table.  
‘Yes.’  
Picard quickly picked up on Data’s thread, ‘Data, Lore was dismantled. And besides, this was a standard Borg cube.’  
‘I know, sir, but something about this isn’t right. The odds of Timothy encountering the Borg are extremely remote. It may be a coincidence, but...call it intuition, something about this seems targeted.’  
‘Data’ Riker spoke up ‘it’s not that I don’t believe you, but that’s not an uncommon feeling to have in a situation like this.’  
A flicker of frustration crossed Data’s face, ‘regardless, I believe it is worth contacting the Starfleet Archives to see if Lore is still there. We stand to lose nothing by doing so.’  
‘Very well, make it so,’ Picard agreed. ‘In the meantime, hail all Federation ships in the area. If we are to approach the Borg, we will need as much support as possible.’ 

Once the meeting had adjourned, Data and Geordi entered the turbolift together and headed back to Engineering.  
As soon as the doors were closed Geordi said ‘there was absolutely no reason for Timothy to have been outside the perimeter, you do know that, right?’  
‘Yes, I am aware,’ Data said quietly, staring ahead at the door.  
‘So he did it on purpose? Why? If anything he risked drawing attention to the rest of the away team.’  
‘I do not know.’  
Geordi didn’t buy that for a second, ‘you used to have the perfect poker face. Now, not so much.’  
The turbolift doors opened, there were too many people around, so Geordi pulled Data into his office.   
‘Be honest with me, I’m right aren’t I? Something is up. ’   
Data looked away and didn’t respond, so Geordi continued. ‘He wanted to be taken by the Borg. That’s the only explanation that makes sense to me. Why else would anyone do that?’  
‘No. He could not be that desperate. He would not throw his entire life and identity away like that.’  
‘Suppose Lore is active. What if he is involved? Do you think Lore could convince Timothy to assimilate?’  
‘My brother would want revenge against me, and I cannot think of anything that could hurt me more than this.’   
‘But we’re jumping to conclusions. What we need right now is more information, we need to know if anything suspicious happened leading up to this incident.’  
‘Well, there seemed to be some conflict between Timothy and T’ara recently.’  
‘His girlfriend? Okay, good start, let’s go.’


	2. Deduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Data and Geordi begin their investigation with T'ara, Timothy's Vulcan partner, and Counsellor Troi.

Data and Geordi found T’ara at work in sickbay, the young Vulcan was another recent graduate, now under the mentorship of Dr Crusher who was currently busily flitting between beds. An away team was suffering from moderate radiation exposure, a condition that had been reversible since the early 24th century, however immediate action was essential.  
The doctor spoke over her shoulder to T’ara who was treating a patient, ‘next I have to show you how we treat the-’. She turned around ‘oh, you’ve done it already.’  
‘Sorry, was I not supposed to proceed on my own?’  
‘No, that’s quite alright, you did a very neat job.’ Crusher observed the patient’s now flawless skin. ‘If anything I wish there were two of you today, it’s going to be a long one.’  
‘Well, we could always try running a multiphasic distributor through the transporter if we get desperate.’  
‘Would that-? Ha, you nearly had me for a moment, I’m not used to Vulcan humour.’  
T’ara gave a slight nod, then she noticed the two new visitors to sickbay, ‘Data, Geordi, is there anything we can do for you?’  
‘Actually we were hoping we could talk to you, T’ara, it will only take a few minutes.’ Data said, looking to Crusher for approval.  
‘This had better be important, she’s my star pupil!’  
The doctor led them around the corner to her office and left them alone while she returned to her patients. 

‘May I ask what this is about?’ T’ara asked calmly as she perched herself on the desk.  
Data knew Vulcans didn’t need to have bad news cushioned for them, so he came right out and said it.  
‘Timothy has been taken by the Borg’.  
T’ara stiffened but her expression remained unchanged, ‘the Borg, in the Beta Quadrant? What would they have been doing there?’  
‘We know it’s highly unusual, and we think you might be able to help us get him back if you can answer some questions for us.’ Geordi said.  
‘You believe I may have had some involvement in this?’ T’ara frowned imperceptibly.  
‘Not exactly, well, we don’t know anything for sure right now, so we’re covering all bases’, Geordi explained.  
‘Very well, what do you need to know?’  
‘May I ask what the nature of your recent conflict with Timothy was?’ Data asked.  
T’ara tensed up again, ‘that is irrelevant. And private.’  
‘Is there anything you can tell us at all?’ Data urged.  
T’ara considered this for a moment, ‘can I trust that this will remain completely confidential?’  
‘Of course, we’ve known you since you were a kid, you can trust us.’ Geordi said.  
‘As you know, Timothy and I have been in a relationship for some time, and Vulcans do not date for fun as humans do. There is an expectation to form a long term bond, to create a family. My parents are quite traditional.’  
‘They have never discussed any ideas of marriage to me.’ Data said.  
‘No, before marriage, an outsider must partake in the Ahmau Palikaya, it is a ritual we do not discuss with outsiders. It roughly translates to ‘naming initiation’. If Timothy were to fail, we would not be allowed to marry.’  
‘That’s a lot of pressure!’ Geordi exclaimed.  
‘It is possible to go through the ritual more than once, however it’s not easy to convince the elders to do so.’  
‘What does this ritual involve?’ Data asked.  
‘An outsider must learn at least one Vulcan dialect-’  
‘No offense, but is that really necessary in the age of universal translators?’ Geordi asked.  
‘They aren’t permitted everywhere on Vulcan, and it’s believed the AI translations don’t fully capture some of the more esoteric concepts in our society. It’s not a matter of words, but concepts. This is why Vulcans refrain from using their full names with outsiders, the translators make the right sounds but lack the correct intonation. Aside from that, Timothy would have to show that he upholds the ideals of Surak, this means that leading up to Ahmau Palikaya proper, he would engage in the rituals Vulcans do throughout their childhood. Finally Timothy would be given a Vulcan name and be fully accepted into our culture.’

‘But Timothy did not wish to go through with this?’ Data asked.  
‘I don’t understand it, everything was fine between us until my parents suggested the ritual. It seemed to make Timothy uncomfortable, it put some kind of doubt in him. He suddenly pulled away from me. I tried to talk to him about it and we had a dispute. That is all.’ T’ara rushed through the last sentence as she saw Crusher approach the window.  
‘There’s more to this story isn’t there?’ Geordi pressed.  
‘I’m afraid I don’t have any more time, but Counsellor Troi already knows the full story. I’ll send her a message giving my consent for her to share this information with you.’ 

On their way to meet with Troi, Data received a message on his data padd, and what he read made him stop in his tracks. Geordi turned around, ‘what is it?’  
Data looked up, ‘it’s the archivist, she says Lore is still in storage.’  
Geordi took the padd and read it for himself, ‘I see she even sent us a photo as proof. It doesn’t get more definitive than that.’  
‘I am not so sure.’  
‘Data, he’s deactivated and accounted for, this is a dead end.’  
‘I know. I know it is not logical but I believe I am experiencing what humans refer to as a “gut feeling”. We are missing something.’  
‘Well on that we can agree. So far we know Timothy left the safety of the duckblind on purpose and that’s highly suspicious. What we’re missing is a motive, if it’s not Lore, maybe Troi can help us.’

The counsellor’s office had a different atmosphere to the rest of the ship, decorated in subdued green and purple tones, it was gently lit and the air was aromatised, the faint smell of flowers and green tea hung in the air.  
As they took their seats Troi said, ‘Data, I’m so sorry to hear what happened, how are you?’  
Data took a moment to reflect, ‘I am fine as long as I keep myself busy, I will not mourn just yet. We are attempting to understand what happened today.’  
‘Yes, I received a message from T’ara. I have to say I am a little confused as to why you need this information.’  
‘There are certain details about how Timothy was taken that don’t add up, ’ Geordi explained.  
‘Oh’, Deanna didn’t press further, she could sense at least from Geordi that there were things they couldn’t share. ‘So you just need to know what happened between T’ara and Timothy?’  
‘Correct,’ Data said eagerly.  
‘I should make it clear that this is highly unorthodox, T’ara has given consent, but Timothy can’t and as he is over the age of 18, I cannot disclose any information he has shared with me recently.’  
‘We understand,’ said Data.  
‘But I will do what I can to help in any way I can. I think what happened between the two of them is not unusual. When a relationship becomes serious, it’s normal to have doubts, especially at that age. It has become apparent to me that the two of them have different goals. T’ara wants commitment, but Timothy, lately he doesn’t seem to know what he wants. There’s no doubt they have a close bond, but there has been almost no intimacy. It’s possible that Timothy is asexual.’  
‘Could that be due to his childhood trauma?’ Geordi asked.  
‘No, I don’t sense that from him, some people are just born this way. This isn’t anything new for him, and it’s only recently he seems to have been pulling away. Not just from T’ara, but from everyone.’  
‘I had not noticed that,’ Data frowned.  
‘You wouldn’t if you don’t know what to look for. It’s that he overcompensates, he creates a big presence and personality, he is popular, but he never lets anyone close, he’s never vulnerable.  
T’ara, in an effort to strengthen their relationship, tried to get intimate with him, that seemed to have crossed his boundaries, he rejected her, but his justification was baffling to T’ara.’  
‘What did he say?’ Data asked.  
‘He said, “I won’t always be like this, I can’t be what you need me to be. You won’t like what I become.”’ Troi was relieved to notice the shockwave between Data and Geordi, she really couldn’t share more without breaching patient confidentiality.  
‘Does that mean anything to you?’  
‘Yes, Counsellor, I believe that will help our investigation,’ Data got to his feet.

‘Where are we going?’ Geordi hurried after the android down the corridor.  
‘It’s evident Timothy was anticipating something, is it not?’  
‘Maybe.’  
‘I want to check his computer, there must be something in his records, perhaps he was in contact with someone.’

Deanna remained sitting where Data and Geordie had left her, she was lost in thought for a few moments, before bringing the computer closer to herself. She scrolled through Timothy’s records, perhaps searching for something, or simply trying to remember everything from the beginning. 2378 was the date of the earliest entry, he had been only ten years old, and she had seen him on an almost weekly basis since then. It had been a complicated relationship and they’d had their ups and downs, but Timothy seemed to generally regard her as a friend. He remained in contact even during his years at the academy, when his free time was surely limited. Before entering the academy herself, Deanna had briefly been a practicing psychologist on Betazed, she found it hard to believe she had been a little younger than Timothy was now. The one thing her training hadn’t prepared her for was how different practicing onboard a starship was. Her patients weren’t simply people she saw for sporadic sessions, they were her coworkers, her friends, and their families. The challenge of dividing her professional life from her private one was always difficult, but she had been pleased when Will once observed that she seemed to do it with ease.

Deanna loved working with children, she valued their honesty, she was fascinated by the way their minds worked, but she had never met anyone like Timothy before. There had been many times she had felt unqualified to treat him, but she was his only option onboard the Enterprise. She had even resorted to consulting her mother about Timothy, and while Lwaxana was able to work her charm on him, as she had Alexander, she agreed that he was a mystery. Deanna had dealt with children suffering through trauma before, that was something they focused on at the academy. While ship life was much safer for families now, there was always the risk of loss, always the risk of hostile alien encounters, or encounters with the unknown, as had been Timothy’s case. The SS Vico was destroyed by a gravitational wave front, it had not been known at the time that raising shields would cause this phenomenon to turn deadly. While there is no sound in space, the vibrations from the wave created a haunting echo in any ship near enough to hear it. Deanna still remembered it, like the deep ominous ringing of an enormous church bell. It seemed to disturb Timothy too, there were few emotions Deanna was sure of in Timothy, but she was confident about that one.

The greatest mystery presented by Timothy was his unusual emotional experience. It wasn’t correct to say he had no emotions. No one could function without some semblance of feeling, no one organic anyway. He was not a psychopath, and Dr.Crusher confirmed that he didn’t have any other neurological disorders. Timothy was just different. Even when they had first met, Deanna found Tim hard to read. So she went by what she could see, and that was a scared, confused little boy. But a year or so later, as Timothy recounted his experiences on the Vico, he painted a different picture. He explained that he’d come to a realisation alone and trapped under that fallen beam in the darkness. At first he had screamed and cried like any child would, but eventually he realised it was utterly meaningless. Troi’s assessment was that something had changed within him in that moment, a divide between brain and body, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Will had been able to rescue the boy instead of Data, if his mental state would be different now.

After Timothy had gotten over his initial hero worship of Data, he seemed to resume life as a normal child, but Data’s reports of his behaviour in private suggested otherwise, was he still harbouring his android fantasy? Allowing Data to become Tim’s temporary guardian until his next of kin could be found was a difficult enough choice, but when Tim’s grandparents had been found and were willing to give their grandson a home, Timothy flat out refused to leave. It was one of the hardest decisions Troi had ever had to make. She was the foremost authority here and what she said determined this boy’s entire future. If it didn’t work out some months down the line, separating Tim from Data might harm him even further. Reflecting on it now, she still wasn’t sure she had made a rational decision, she just didn’t want to take anything else away from this child who had already lost so much. Data made him feel happy and safe, his grandparents were a complete unknown, Tim had never met them in person. 

When T’ara and her brother, Soren, joined his class a few months later, she did not protest their friendship despite what everyone else had said. The captain had raised some objections, first the boy befriends an android and pretends to be one himself in order to suppress his emotions. Now he’s befriending Vulcans? From the outside it looked like a pattern was forming. But Troi had long ago stopped viewing Tim as a boy suppressing his emotions as a coping mechanism, and started to take these explorations of his identity more seriously. There was obviously a lot about himself he didn’t understand and couldn’t give voice to as an adolescent, but it seemed that his exposure to Vulcan culture had helped him to articulate himself better. Humans use very emotional language, Vulcans do not, and this organisation of thought proved productive in their therapy sessions.

Deanna may not have been fully telepathic, but she could piece together Data and Geordi’s motives by what they had said. If they were talking to her, it meant they thought Timothy somehow planned what had happened today, and they were looking for signs of changed behaviour. That seemed profoundly remote, how could he contact the Borg? And more importantly, why?


	3. Offspring

As Data entered Timothy’s quarters, he had not expected to find himself hit with a wave of emotion. He was still adjusting to these sensations, so he struggled to find a way to describe what he was feeling. It felt like his son was still here, perhaps just elsewhere on the ship, and he would return at any moment. Timothy was fastidious, but there were still signs of life, laundry that he hadn’t had the chance to put away, a used coffee mug on the desk. And there was his scent still in the air. Data never paid much attention to smell before, he used it only to determine the breathability of the air for the people around him. Now smell took on a whole new significance. 

‘Alright, let’s see what we have here,’ Geordi said, taking his place at the desk before the computer, and snapping Data back to reality. He had never really understood that phrase before, where did people go, if they were not in reality, if they were not in the present? Lately he found himself spending more time in his mind, sifting through old memories, seeing them in a whole new light.  
Data thought back to Lal, his first child, and his heart broke. 

Two years before he had met Timothy he had decided that he should become a parent, it was the natural order of life, it would allow him to preserve the Soong-type android lineage, and it would also allow him to understand the human experience better. Data had quickly bonded with Lal, and she seemed to share this sentiment. She dominated his mental processes, he had taken great care to educate her and prepare her for the world, but he had allowed her absolute freedom to choose her own identity, to choose her own destiny. Lal had exceeded his every expectation, she quickly surpassed him in numerous ways, most significant of all, she was able to experience emotion. However this experience exceeded her capacities and it soon sent her into cascade failure. Data had worked as fast as he could to save her but there was nothing to be done. He reactivated her for the final time to say goodbye.  
‘Lal, I am unable to correct the system failure.’  
‘I know.’ Lal responded calmly, seeming to accept her fate.  
‘You must say goodbye now.’  
‘I feel…’  
‘What do you feel, Lal?’  
‘I love you, father.’  
Data was unsure of how to respond, he cared about her, certainly, but to say it was love was not entirely true. ‘I wish I could feel it with you.’  
‘I will feel it for both of us. Thank you for my life.’  
Data watched as Lal’s neural network deteriorated, all that remained were random nodes from early in her activation, random words that held significance to her. ‘Female...Human…’

Before all that memory was lost, Data had uploaded a copy to his own mind. He could watch this moment from Lal’s perspective and from his own. She had put on a brave face when she was told she was to be deactivated, but she had been so scared. This was something Data had known since his initial evaluation of the memory, only now did that mean something to him. He wished so terribly that he had told her he loved her, just once, even if it was not strictly speaking true at the time. He loved her now, wanted to hold her now, but she was nothing but memories.

Timothy seemed to come into his life when he needed him most, Data had been considering building another child at the time, but early simulations all resulted in the same cascade failure. He had only his own mind as a blue-print, if he had access to Lore’s mind, he might have a better understanding why the addition of emotions were proving so destructive in this current configuration. He could have made a child exactly like himself, but that seemed to defeat the purpose of reproduction, each generation should succeed the last. He did not wish to confine his own child to the limitations he had to deal with on a daily basis. But Timothy quickly became the child he needed, they were alike, yet not alike, caught between two worlds. They helped each other equally, Data was his companion, his teacher, defender and protector, and Timothy in turn helped translate the world of humans to Data. Timothy might not have felt emotions like everyone else, but he had a reasonable understanding of them and other human idiosyncrasies having been raised amongst it all. 

Data had lost one child before he could express how he felt, he hoped against hope that he would not lose a second child when he was just beginning to understand these new emotions. 

‘Approaching the source of the ion trail in approximately one hour, Captain,’ the helmsman announced.  
‘We’ve been here before, haven’t we?’ Picard was struck with deja vu.  
Riker ran the coordinates through the system, ‘you’re right, I think it’s leading us directly to where we last encountered Lore.’  
‘Curiouser and curiouser, number one.’   
‘Could this mean the Cooperative has resumed living as Borg?’  
‘It could mean a lot of things, we won’t know until we arrive. Worf, what is the status of the other ships?’  
‘The Agamemnon is approximately 30 minutes behind us, but the Crazy Horse won’t arrive until 90 minutes after we do.’  
‘Very well, tell them we will keep them informed of the situation once we arrive.’  
‘Aye, Captain.’

‘It’s clean, too clean, if anything,’ Geordi sighed as he leaned back from the computer.  
‘It is the same with his data padd,’ Data added. ‘And we do not have time to recover any deleted information.’  
‘Well, not if we pick the right place to look.’  
‘It’s not possible to localise a recovery sweep, it must search the entire hard drive or not at all.’  
‘Please, that’s only there as a precautionary measure, we can turn that off easily.’  
‘Oh.’  
‘Super intelligent AI, but it never occurs to you to bend the rules does it?’  
‘Well, no, my ethics subroutine prohibits it.’  
‘Good thing you’ve got me, Holmes,’ Geordi turned back to the computer.  
Data smiled at this, despite the urgency and stakes of the situation, he took comfort in remembering their games on the holodeck. They were Holmes and Watson, and they always solved the case.

‘Alright, let’s look in the communications folder, shall we?’  
‘It seems like the logical choice.’  
They had only to wait ten minutes and the sweep was complete.  
‘Alright’ Geordi scrolled down the list. ‘There’s mostly recognised contacts, you, T’ara, Soren, the academy, but who is this?’  
‘I don’t recognise that identification.’  
‘No, and how much do you want to bet it’s a falsified ID?’  
Data looked more closely, ‘you’re right, those numbers should not correlate.’  
‘Records only go back about six months, obviously we couldn’t recover everything, but from the looks of it, whoever this is, they were contacting him significantly more in the past few weeks. It’s still not enough to prove anything, but it’s not painting a good picture.’

Data’s excitement at finding another clue quickly turned to horror as the implications of the evidence fully formed in his mind. Had Timothy been communicating with the Borg? Had he been complicit in the destruction of Skhalver? How many secrets had Timothy kept from Data? And where was he now? Had he already been assimilated? Would Data have to live with this uncertainty forever?   
‘Are you okay, Data?’  
Data stood up to leave, ‘we should return to the bridge, we will be arriving soon.’

Through the viewscreen sat the familiar, but unnamed M class planet, home to the Cooperative; a small faction of liberated Borg, who had once served under Lore, and were now guided by Hugh. The space surrounding the planet was clear of any vessels, most significant was the absence of a Borg cube. However there was a new ion trail leading away from the planet.  
‘A reading of the planet’s surface indicates there was recently a conflict here,’ Worf announced from his station.  
‘The Cooperative was attacked?’ Picard turned to look up at the Klingon.  
‘Potentially.’  
Picard was weighing his options when he noticed out the corner of his eye that Data was watching him with the impatience of a hungry dog.   
‘Yes, Mr. Data we will investigate now, it seems backup won’t be necessary, at least not yet. Riker, Worf, you will accompany him.’

The surface of the planet was barely recognisable, what had once been a serene and verdant land just waiting to become a vineyard was now burned to ash. It was a small mercy then that it was raining, preventing the fire from spreading further. The Cooperative’s base, the one structure for kilometres around, was still standing but had taken heavy damage. The deassimilated Borg tended to their wounded and their dead, leading the effort was Hugh, he was almost unrecognisable, his natural skin pigmentation was returning and his hair had begun to grow once more. When the Enterprise crew arrived he seemed relieved.  
‘My friends, you have returned. How did you know we were in distress? And how did you get here so soon?’  
‘We didn’t, we were trailing that Borg ship, it’s just a shame we couldn’t get here sooner,’ Riker looked around regretfully. He pressed his comm badge and ordered down the medical crew.  
‘Well, you’re here now and that means a lot to us. They wiped out a lot of our resources.’  
‘Do you know why the Borg would attack you?’ Data asked.  
‘They weren’t Borg, not really, I don’t know what they were.’  
‘That’s what our crew reported as well, they did not have the appearance nor behaviour of traditional Borg.’  
‘Despite their differences, I was still able to connect to their thoughts, otherwise I would have no explanation for this attack at all. They saw us as an abomination for rejecting our augmentations, they saw us as a threat to be eliminated. They saw themselves as the next stage in Borg evolution, they called themselves Legion.’  
‘Ominous’ Riker said.  
‘I must ask, Lore is still deactivated, is he not?’ Hugh looked worried.  
‘Yes’ Data answered, ‘we recently confirmed it with Starfleet Archives, whoever this is isn’t someone we’ve encountered before.’

The medical crew soon arrived, T’ara was among them, so too was Crusher. It was unusual for her to work in the field, but she was the foremost expert on the Borg, she felt it was safer to oversee the entire procedure. Beverly was especially glad to see that Hugh had survived, she felt a kind of responsibility for him, she had been the one to give Hugh his name and start him on his path back to individuality. Perhaps it was because he appeared to be not much older than her own son, or perhaps it was his gentle demeanour, but it had been easy for Beverly to overlook the fact that he was a Borg and see the human underneath the cybernetics. It was a shame his independence so far had brought him only pain. 

Data showed Hugh a photo of Timothy on his padd, ‘this Legion recently took my son, that is how we came to know of them. Do you know if he was among them?’   
‘Yes, I’m sorry. You’re too late,’ Hugh said gently. ‘But if you can rescue him, we could help him deassimilate.’  
‘Thank you,’ was all Data could say, he left Hugh with Riker as he headed into the building to assess the damage. T’ara followed, ‘good that we’re both here, with our combined strength, we should have no problem retrieving casualties.’  
‘Yes. Readings indicate there are hundreds of individuals spread throughout this base.’ Data called through comms for additional backup to be beamed down.  
T’ara cut to the chase, ‘Timothy has been assimilated hasn’t he?’  
‘Yes. I do not know why I had convinced myself there was a chance he had somehow been spared or that he would not have been converted immediately.’

There was silence as the two of them lifted a fallen pillar with the ease of moving a couch.  
‘Forgive me if this is inappropriate, but may I ask what you had hoped to accomplish with your investigation? It was never going to save Timothy, I fail to see how it was going to change anything.’  
‘You’re right, it was never going to alter the outcome, but at least I might have understood.’  
‘And have you achieved greater understanding?’  
‘No, things are less clear now than ever. I was so convinced of my theories, but there was no basis for any of it, maybe it’s just me. I am no longer able to think rationally.’  
‘Learning to control your emotions takes time, I would be more than willing to assist you in adapting.’  
‘I would appreciate that.’  
‘I believe you are doing very well under the circumstances. And it doesn’t matter that your investigation proved fruitless, regardless of how or why this happened, we will get him back.’  
A thought seemed to strike Data, ‘what if it is my fault?’  
‘That Timothy was assimilated? Only the Borg can be blamed.’  
‘No, not in this instance. I have reason to believe Timothy gave himself over to the Borg. I haven’t disclosed this with anyone else, but I believe you have a right to know.’  
Things seemed to click into place for T’ara, ‘you’re right, that does explain some things. But if anyone is to blame, it’s me.’  
‘No, ever since I got my emotion chip, I’ve been different, I never stopped to consider how it made him feel. I never asked for his permission, the first he learned of it was on his graduation day. It was selfish of me.’  
‘Maybe we both hurt him. Maybe his choice had nothing to do with us. Lacking any further evidence, speculation is irrelevant.’

They continued on in silence a short way until they found the first group of Borg, most still conscious, but too injured to free themselves. T’ara got straight to work on the most severe cases.  
‘What can I do to help?’ Data asked.  
‘All we can really do here is deliver first aid; treat their burns, and stop any bleeding. The crew will track our location here soon, they can carry the patients out and beam them to the ship. After that I think it makes the most sense if you and I continue to clear the path for the crew.’  
‘Understood.’ 

Data was impressed to see T’ara in action, he had known her since she was a child, even back then she had been a natural leader. She had transferred to the Enterprise-D with her family only months after Timothy had come to call it his home. In that time Data had become his de facto guardian and observed that Timothy hadn’t made any friends. But when T’ara and her twin brother Soren entered the class, Timothy seemed to find others to connect with. There had been a noticeable improvement in the boy’s mood and confidence. He became better able to articulate himself and his experience, he engaged more in class and group activities. Little by little it became clear that Timothy wasn’t the normal child they had first assumed him to be. He had his own way of doing things and his own needs, and it was fitting that he would be accepted by these Vulcan children as their culture had a philosophy: infinite diversity in infinite combinations.


	4. Exploration

Data had not had much opportunity to get to know the Vulcan twins until the incident on Nereus. The planet was tidal locked, one half in permanent dark frost, the other was almost entirely desert with a few sizable oases scattered throughout. These became the locations of the major cities, only the wealthiest could afford to live near the vast lakes of water, and so the rest of the population was spread throughout many smaller villages in the outskirts. Evidently not a post-scarcity planet, such inequality was unseen within the Federation. But that was likely to change now that negotiations with the Enterprise had successfully concluded with Nereus joining the Federation. The Enterprise would be docked here for some months during the transitional phase of government, and so most of the non-essential crew had decided to take shore leave in the capital city of Voltis.

Data recalled that Timothy had been precisely fifteen years and three months old at the time, the twins, fifteen and nine months old. He also remembered how they had marvelled at the scenery, it had been meaningless to him at the time, he could understand aesthetics only from cultural conventions and rules established in the fields of art and photography. But now he reviewed his memories and realised how stunning it had been. The city had been situated in the middle of a valley of sand dunes elevating so high and so sharply that it helped to partially block the city from the harsh afternoon sun. This was only possible with the unique sand of Nereus, it was not composed of silicate as it was on Earth or most other planets, instead it was a ferro-trisilicate that bonded to itself and so was able to form impressive and unusual structures. For this reason the people of Nereus had the luxury of avoiding many of the disadvantages found in other deserts, the sand did not retain heat, it did not stick to skin or clothing, it didn’t form a dust that coated every building inside and out. However in exchange for these conveniences the resulting sandstorms were far more dangerous, more akin to hail than rain. Mercifully they were rare and Nerean architecture was more than equipped to deal with the impact. 

The children had been given considerable freedom, it was clear that they were part of the Federation, and given the recent political union, it seemed unlikely they were in any danger. T’ara as usual took the lead and decided they should head north of the city to witness the annual migration of the capids.  
‘What is a capid?’ Soren asked, squinting up at his sister who was already halfway up the steps to the transport platform.  
‘Capids are a quadrupedal animal, they most resemble a chatarr.’  
‘A what?’ Timothy asked.  
T’ara considered it for a moment, ‘in terrestrial terms they most resemble an armadillo crossed with a badger.’  
‘Why is it that we are expected to memorise Earth animals when humans don’t even know what a chatarr is?’ Soren asked as he climbed the stairs.  
‘Well you know how feeble human minds are,’ T’ara rejoined.  
‘Surely they couldn’t possibly be as feeble as their bodies.’  
‘You mean the galaxy doesn’t revolve around Earth?,’ Timothy asked rhetorically as he joined them. Though he found it amusing, he did not laugh, instead he expressed himself the way his Vulcan friends did, with the slightest adjustment in his tone and facial expression. Much like cats, Vulcans could seem expressionless to outside observers, but Timothy had adapted well to this subtle system with ease. He found interactions with Vulcans required greater focus, but in return, greater reward. Humans were highly expressive and highly talkative, but often it signified nothing, or worse it was the complete opposite or their true intentions.

The hovertrain was full of people from all over the galaxy, which was unsurprising given that Nereus was a popular tourist destination. Timothy rarely saw such diversity, on both the Vico and the Enterprise the crew was almost entirely human, but since meeting Data, Timothy had learned that he felt most at home amongst the non-human. Aliens and androids couldn’t judge him the way humans did, they didn’t notice he was different. He looked among the crowd and felt a desire to connect with each and every one of them. How different their lives must be, could they ever truly understand each other?

As they took their seats, T’ara placed her backpack between them and Timothy felt her hand search for his. Public affection was forbidden in Vulcan society, but since they had begun dating a few months ago, the two had found ways around the problem. They thought they had kept the secret well, but Soren was perfectly aware, and when he caught them in his peripherals, he rolled his eyes and took out his datapad. Outside, the scenery slowly shifted from dense urban sprawl to scattered domiciles scarcely more developed than shacks. The train had become less occupied, those who remained were likely on the same expedition the teenagers were on.  
‘Says here we need to watch out for bandits in these areas’ Soren said abruptly.  
‘Nonsense’ T’ara said.  
‘No, I’m serious, look’, Soren handed the padd over to his sister.  
‘Oh, you weren’t joking. Well as long as we stick to the more populated areas, I’m sure we will be safe.’

The twins continued to talk, Timothy's mind wandered, he somewhat liked this new element of danger, he didn’t really feel fear, but situations of uncertainty or danger presented him with the rare opportunity to get into a heightened state. It was the strangest sensation, his body and mind had separate reactions; mentally, he was calm, and time would seem to slow down, he experienced a greater clarity of thought, he could think at his best in moments like that. And yet physically his heart would race, the adrenaline would rush through him, and he would start to tremble. Nothing he was experiencing in his mind could ever match that primal chaos. It made him feel even more divorced from his body than usual and yet it was not unpleasant. He was certain he would never understand true fear or rage or excitement, but he imagined this was as close as he would ever get. There was a certain novelty to it.

‘What’s so special about these capids?’ Timothy asked as they reached their stop.  
‘They spend almost their entire lives deep underground, and because of the nature of the sand here, it is nearly impossible to observe them remotely and so very little is known about their lifecycle,’ Tara explained. ‘For instance we don’t know why they choose to spend one week a year above ground.’  
‘Oh, I read that this is their mating season, they even lay their eggs in the sand on their way to their second burrow’ Soren said.  
‘Ah yes, we know what they do above ground, but not why. It seems rather illogical to engage in such vulnerable acts above ground, does it not?’  
‘True. I understand why you find them fascinating,’ her brother agreed.

Timothy’s gaze swept across the desert, there were a few settlements in the distance in the direction the hovertrain had continued its journey, otherwise the space was minimally occupied. A cluster of tourists were gathered, keeping a respectful distance from the capids under the watchful eye of a guard mounted on some kind of bipedal creature. Tim couldn’t see the capids from their current position, but what he did notice was a number of large tents scattered around the area, all appearing to house extensive scientific equipment.  
‘What are all these tents out here?’ Timothy asked.  
‘Oh those are the xenobiologists, capids are highly sought after research subjects. It seems like there’s research teams from a number of planets here today, all trying to solve the mystery of these creatures. I hope they do, I suppose you could say I’ve become rather invested in it.’  
‘Sounds like you will be studying xenobiology at the Science Academy, then?’ Soren asked.  
‘I told you I haven’t decided if I’m going yet.’  
‘Well one of us has to, or our parents will be disappointed. And everyone knows it’s definitely not going to be me,’ Soren said as he took a seat in the sand and produced a sketch pad from his backpack. He began drawing the capids, he had such a smooth, fluid style, the lines seemed so alive, so effortless and he needed so few to convey the image. 

Thousands upon thousands of capids were crowded here, the air was filled with a musical chorus of chirps and clicks. Tim was in awe of the sight, and yet he found himself distracted by what Soren had said, he hadn’t given it much thought until now, the three of them might only be together for the next two years. After that, they might go their separate ways. Sure they could still contact each other, but it wouldn’t be the same. So Tim decided to put it out of his mind for now and enjoy this moment with his best friends. His only friends.

Their outing would be short lived however as only an hour later a sandstorm started to roll in. The first indication something was wrong was that the capids froze in place and then began furiously burrowing into the ground en mass, their powerful paws were tipped with magnetic claws with a negative charge, the sand was repelled from them. Unfortunately the trio had walked all the way to the other side of the capid caravan by that point, there was no way for them to run back to the train station in time. They couldn’t cut through the series of newly dug holes either, it would be unsafe for them and the capids.

‘What do we do?’ Tim turned to T’ara, shouting against the wind. He trusted her absolutely, she always made the right decision. But right now she looked around as helplessly as he did. Suddenly a stranger grabbed them by their arms and started to lead them away from the direction of the station.  
It was a Ferengi, ‘come with me’ he said. ‘I’ll get you to safety.’  
The three adolescents looked at each other, what choice did they have? Already the sand was starting to cut their skin.

‘Wooh, made it!’ Geordi said as he removed his visor and blew some of the sand from it.  
‘I’m afraid that won’t help much, the sand here has magnetic properties’ Data said brushing the sand from his shirt. It was one of the rare occasions he was seen in civilian clothing, apart from the costumes he wore on the holodeck, he had spent the majority of his service in uniform. There was never any need to remove it, he never slept, never needed to get comfortable, and only once a week did he need to bathe himself and wash his uniform. The connection humanoids had to their clothing was something that eluded Data. Although Timothy had been helping him to understand fashion and even picked the clothes he wore now. A short sleeve collared shirt in teal, with accents of black and ivory, paired with grey trousers. He had gotten a positive response from his crewmates, Beverly said the teal complimented his complexion. Evidently Timothy had chosen well.

Data and Geordi looked out the windows of the lobby to see the sandstorm roll in at full force, just minutes ago they had been outside in the markets when they heard the sound of sirens. They had been warned in advance of what to do in the event of a sandstorm and thankfully they had been within walking distance of the hotel. Had they been forced to seek shelter elsewhere, Data might have remained unaware of the danger Timothy was in. Ivek and T’lora, the twin’s parents, approached and asked him if they had seen their children.  
‘I have only just returned, are they not here?’ Data asked.  
‘No, but prior to the storm disrupting the signal, their comm badges were emitting a distress beacon.’  
‘Did you get a lock on their location?’  
‘The signal was too weak.’  
‘Then I am afraid all we can do is wait.’

‘Here’s a spare room for you kids, take a seat. I’ll be back soon, I’ll see if we can get any signal from outside. But don’t you worry, these storms don’t last long.’ The Ferengi showed them to a small furnished room, furnished in the sense that random pieces of unwanted furniture were stored there. A bed, a few chairs and a couch were placed with no sense of order. Much like the rest of the house, the room was simple and run down. It almost looked as if it had once been a bunker, only it had far too many windows. It was still bright outside, but the light flickered through torrents of sand.  
‘How long?’ Soren asked.  
‘Oh an hour, maybe two, or three,’ the Ferengi said as he exited the room and the door slid closed.

Timothy’s attention was still on the window, something was wrong, why were they barred? He raced to the door to find that it was also locked.  
‘We’re trapped!’  
The twins looked around for other points of escape but there were none.  
‘It’s alright, he won’t likely kill us’ Soren said calmly.  
‘How do you know?’ Tim asked.  
‘Simple, we have been abducted by a Ferengi, he isn’t interested in murder, but profit. We are Federation children, moreover, Starfleet children, we are valuable in ransom’.  
‘Right’ Timothy relaxed his posture.  
‘Although’ T’ara added, ‘he might try to sell us into slavery.’  
‘Slavery? But this is a Federation planet now, they can’t do that right?’ Timothy asked.  
‘I don’t know, I don’t think black markets disappear overnight’ T’ara was uncertain.  
‘It doesn’t matter, we will be found as soon as this storm passes. My communicator is back with the capids. T’ara’s is in the hovertruck and you’ve still got yours right?’ Soren asked.  
‘Yeah.’  
‘So we have our bases covered, if this place is shielded, then they can still find the one in the hovertruck, if the truck is shielded, they at least know where we were captured.’  
The kids sat in silence for a few moments.  
‘We should probably try to unlock the door anyway’ Timothy said.  
The twins agreed.

The Ferengi had not bothered to remove their backpacks, though they didn’t contain much of use, Timothy was able to pry open the control panel for the door utilising Soren’s art supplies. Adjusting a few wires here and there caused the door to short out, triggering the safety mechanism to unlock the door. Cautiously the trio looked around and jumped when they heard the Ferengi shouting from the other end of the hall.  
‘No! It’s not enough. Every time you conquer another planet, you drive us further and further out. Nereus is an essential trade planet. We don’t need the Federation interfering with our business. We need you to leave this planet.’  
The trio heard Picard’s voice respond, distorted and filled with static, but clear enough, ‘I understand you feel we are threatening your way of life, but I can assure you we are only involved at the request of your government-’  
‘You think we got to vote those people in? We didn’t get a say in this!’  
‘No, but now you will have your voice heard, Nereus has just become a democracy. You needn’t resort to taking hostages, every citizen is given the opportunity to vote on the changes made during the transition into the Federation.’  
‘But we’re still going to be in the Federation, that’s the problem. You’re colonisers, you take every culture you encounter and make it your own, you force your rules upon them all. Do you know how many planets I’ve had to leave because of you?’

The teenagers quietly crept through the facility, it was a reasonably large space, what it had been initially used for was unclear to Timothy, but given the size, there were likely other occupants and they could be hiding anywhere. They reached the final door that led to the entrance, and as they had done with every door prior, they opened it and hid until they were sure the coast was clear. They heard nothing but when they looked they were face to face with an Andorian with a phaser rifle aimed at them. And there was that familiar sensation in Timothy, time slowed down, his mind sharpened, and yet he didn’t need to think about his next actions at all. He launched himself at the Andorian and despite the size difference, he managed to drop his kidnapper to the ground through sheer surprise. ‘Go!’ he commanded and the twins complied, they ran outside to the hovertruck. 

Tim soon managed to wrestle the rifle from the Andorian and fired without hesitation. It took a moment for him to realise what had happened. He still sat cornered, the Andorian’s hand remained clasped around his ankle, but there was a horrible wound in the alien’s chest. The rifle hadn’t been set to stun, he’d killed a man. He’d seen plenty of corpses on the Vico, in some cases he had seen the light leave their eyes. But this was his doing and he couldn’t undo it.

Timothy was so lost in thought that he didn’t notice the Ferengi enter until he gave an anguished howl that caused the boy to jump to his feet and once more pull the trigger. Why had he done it again? He berated himself. He tossed the rifle across the room, afraid of any further harm it might cause. Tim’s heart was racing, and he was shaking, but he had lost the calm clarity of mind, he couldn’t make sense of his thoughts, he didn’t recognise himself. He snapped out of it when he heard his friends call and he ran to join them in the hovertruck. As they pulled away Tim kept his eyes on the hideout for as long as it remained visible, it was as if he wanted to be proven wrong, he wanted to see the kidnappers trying to pursue them, but the place remained motionless, lifeless, until it was lost over a sand dune. 

No one spoke, each of them had much to process, the sharp sounds of hail impact resonated through the cabin. T’ara did eventually turn around to squeeze Tim’s hand, the same lost look reflected in both of their eyes. The storm finally relented, the maddening cacophony replaced with a ringing silence.  
‘Look, there they are!’ Soren cried.  
The teens were met with the most reassuring sight they had ever seen, high in the sky was the Enterprise, a ghostly apparition in the upper atmosphere. And below, at the peak of the dune before them, was a shuttle occupied by their parents. Both parties stopped their vehicles as they approached and hurried to reunite.  
T’Lora carefully inspected her children, ‘you have been injured.’  
‘It’s nothing substantial, mother’, Soren said as he greeted her.  
‘You must tell us everything,’ Ivek placed his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. To human eyes, this may have seemed like a remarkably impersonal gesture given the situation. But amongst Vulcans, physical contact of any kind was intimate, the smallest gesture could indicate deep feelings of affection. It was through contact that Vulcans could sense each other's thoughts and feelings. And T’ara was reassured by this sense connection to her father. Towards her, he felt protective, he felt a deep sense of duty and care and trust. It went beyond human concepts of love; love was fleeting, love was conditional. No, the moment his children were born, they became a part of Ivek’s being. As his children grew and matured, he understood them fully, he was never blinded by nostalgia, nor did he delude himself with fantasies and expectations as human parents might. He and T’Lora, like all good Vulcan parents, always tried to see their children for who they truly were. And in this moment they saw their children were strong and resourceful, they were proud.

Data immediately detected something was wrong with Timothy, he was slower to exit the vehicle than the other two, he seemed to walk as if in a daze. When Data embraced him, Tim rested his full weight on him which wasn’t like him at all. It’s not that he usually resisted, he just treated it with such formality.  
‘Are you alright, Timothy?’ Data took his son’s head in both hands and looked into his eyes, there was no sign of concussion that he could see without a tricorder.  
‘I do not know’ Tim’s voice came soft and distant, his eyes were unfocused.  
‘What is wrong?’  
‘I cannot explain it, I do not understand. I do not know why I did that.’  
Data realised there was nothing more he could do alone, he pressed his badge.  
‘Two to beam up to sick bay.’


	5. Ethics

Timothy had never been in the observation lounge before, although he had been in the captain’s ready room, and the circumstances were so similar it gave him déjà vu. After he had been rescued from the Vico, the crew of the Enterprise investigated the cause of the accident. Timothy had been so convinced that he had been responsible that he had lied about what had happened, he made up a story about an encounter with unknown aliens. Here Timothy sat five years later and he felt as small and vulnerable as he had back then. He looked around the table, at Picard, Crusher, Troi and his father. And just as before, he was confessing to murder, only this time it really did happen. No innocent misunderstandings now. Picard revealed that they had discovered the bunker Tim had escaped from had housed more than a hundred other insurgents underground, and they claimed Timothy killed the hostage takers, which had only served to ramp up tensions between Nereus and the Federation. Timothy had been stone faced, yes, he had killed them, but it was in self defense. What more needed to be said?

The captain didn’t see any reason to punish Timothy and that was the end of it, or so he thought. It continued to nag at him, he tried to keep it to himself, wait for it to pass, but days later it hadn’t, he needed help to understand himself. He turned to his father first.  
‘Dad, can I talk to you?’ Tim found Data in his office in front of his computer, a place he spent most of his off-duty time.  
‘Of course’, Data looked up from the screen.  
Timothy took a seat opposite him, his gaze cast downward as he fiddled with his hands. He wasn’t sure how to say what he needed to say. ‘I keep thinking about how I killed those men, I shouldn’t have done it. But I didn’t have control of myself. I don’t know what happened to me.’  
‘You were in a dangerous situation, you did what you had to.’  
‘That’s the thing, I didn’t have to, I could have adjusted the phaser, I could have just run. The second guy, he wasn’t anywhere near me. But I did it anyway, I couldn’t stop myself.’  
‘No one could expect you to behave perfectly in a situation like that. Even androids make mistakes, and sometimes we are forced into situations where we have to hurt others.’  
Timothy looked up ‘really?’  
Data nodded, ‘a few years before I met you, I too was abducted and held against my will. I was placed into the collection of a Zibalian trader named Kivas Fajo.’  
‘And you killed him?’  
‘No, but I was very close to it. I saw no other way out, Fajo was a threat to myself and the other members of his staff. I had pulled the trigger on the phaser, I had every intention of ending his life, but I was transported away at the last moment.’  
Timothy looked at Data in amazement, he had not expected him to understand, let alone relate.  
‘I often think about that day,’ Data continued. ‘I did not realise I was capable of such a thing, and yet nothing in my ethics subroutine prohibited it.’  
‘Why not?’  
‘I have given it much thought and I believe it is because my actions would have prevented more harm. There are going to be people you encounter in life that you cannot reason with, who want only to cause pain and suffering. Sometimes we must fight back, but only as a last resort, do you understand?’  
‘I do,’ Timothy felt a little better, less alone. 

‘There is something else, is there not?’ Though Data was somewhat socially oblivious with most people, he was quite well studied in Timothy’s body language by this point.   
‘I should feel something right? I don’t feel bad about killing them. I just felt bad that I lost control.’  
‘I do not have any feelings, I am not upset when someone dies. If they were a close friend, I would miss them, but I would not be as troubled as a human might be. This does not mean I do not care, caring and feeling and not the same thing.’  
This seemed to be a revelation to Timothy, ‘they aren’t?’  
‘They are not. You have a sense of ethics as I do, you understand that murder is wrong, and that you did not wish to commit it. These are not feelings, these are what you care about and value. If you did not care about the value of all life, we would not be having this conversation, your actions would not have bothered you.’  
‘That’s right, that makes sense. Thanks.’  
Data gave a slight smile, ‘I am glad I have been helpful, I have had some experience in these matters.’  
‘You aren’t going to tell Captain Picard about me killing them when I didn’t have to, are you?’  
‘It was an accident, Timothy. You have done nothing wrong.’

This didn’t sit right with Timothy, how could he have been perfectly conscious of his actions and yet not in control? An accident would be if he had grabbed the weapon and fired it without meaning to. But that wasn’t true, he had it in his hands, he took aim and fired, twice. Every time he replayed the memory in his mind he came away with a new conclusion. ‘I wanted to kill them’, ‘I was scared’, ‘I was angry’, but none of that seemed true either. He decided he should speak to T’ara’s parents next, they often guided him in matters like these pertaining to emotions and logic. It was a common misconception that Vulcans lacked feelings, they were in fact highly emotional, but they were incredibly disciplined and worked to control their emotions. They understood the value of stoicism, they aspired to be as logical as possible. Through them, Timothy came to understand how to live a meaningful life where emotions are not a central focus. He had absorbed Vulcan philosophy like a sponge. They came from the opposite perspective from Timothy but they came to meet in the middle with similar conclusions. Data was able to give some valuable advice, but not being organic, there was a limit to how much he could relate to Timothy. 

T’Lora answered the door, she was out of uniform, wearing a full length dress of dark blue in a style popular on Vulcan. ‘Timothy, I’m afraid the children are at their music lesson right now.’  
‘That’s okay, I was actually hoping I could speak to you.’  
The Vulcan woman led him inside to the couch, Ivek was not around, evidently he was on duty now. Timothy recounted the events and what had been bothering him as T’Lora poured some tea for him.  
‘I wasn’t scared, but I don’t know, I could see myself acting like I was, and I couldn’t control it.’  
‘You feel emotion in the body but not the mind then?’ T’Lora suggested.  
‘I feel, something, sometimes, I guess.’  
‘There is no shame in admitting that. You are a living being with a body, it’s simply doing its job, the job it evolved to do over millions of years. Even Vulcans experience this. You are much like the individuals who have gone through Kolinahr, you are most fortunate. If only more humans were like you. But even though these individuals are in a state of pure logic, they must deal with their bodies and what they say.’  
‘Has anyone tried to fix that?’  
‘Fix it? There is nothing to fix. We are our bodies, we must learn to accept them, work with them.’  
Timothy disagreed, ‘Why?’  
‘What other choice do we have?’  
‘Well, clearly my body was the problem in this situation, and you’re saying no matter how much I train my mind, my body is going to betray me again eventually?’  
‘There are many obstacles in life to pure logic, what matters is how we face them and how we overcome them.’  
Timothy felt uneasy at the idea of this battle going on for the rest of his life, the constant threat of his body failing him. T’Lora seemed to sense this, ‘if this is something that causes you discomfort, we could work on it together. There are plenty of practises to help integrate mind with body.’  
The prospect of accepting his body for what it was caused conflict within Timothy, he might finally be at peace, but at the same time, he couldn’t imagine himself identifying as human, it felt like he would lose who he was if that were so. Still he was curious, ‘I’m willing to try.’

T’Lora placed cushions on the ground and darkened the room, they took their seats in front of each other.  
‘Have you ever meditated before?’ T’Lora asked.  
‘Never.’  
‘Alright then, we will begin with the most basic form. I want you to close your eyes and focus on your breath. You mustn’t let your attention stray elsewhere, there is nothing in the world but your breath for the next few minutes.’  
Timothy did as she instructed, he followed the air as it travelled through his nose, down his throat, pharynx, larynx, trachea, hidden parts he rarely thought about, but which he was suddenly very aware of, they disgusted him. He swallowed reflexively, the sensation was nauseating. He tried to remain calm and focused, he felt his chest rise and fall, he thought about the wet spongy organs up against his ribcage. And his eyes flew open, T’Lora heard his breath sharpen and opened her eyes as well. ‘I can see we have a lot of work ahead of us.’

T’Lora became Timothy’s teacher over the next few weeks, they kept it between themselves, no one else knew. This was not that unusual, Vulcans were very private by nature, especially about personal problems. Timothy applied himself as best he could, unification between mind and body had come to sound more appealing, it was senseless to feel uncomfortable in his own skin. But he struggled with the practices T’Lora assigned him, he had eventually become more comfortable with the most basic form of meditation, though it was not a source of relaxation. He simply learned to endure it. Next they progressed onto a form of meditation that involved focusing intensely on the organs, the fluids, the excretions of the body, everything repulsive, as a means of accepting the body for what it was. But Timothy had failed to make it more than a few minutes into these sessions. He didn’t understand this within himself, why could he not just comply? It was like there was some kind of revolt between brain and body.

The next exercise should have been simple, mindful eating, the practise of eating with no distractions and observing the process fully. But it was too much for Tim, he didn’t even eat in front of others, he ate in his room while he distracted himself watching videos. Thankfully, having an android as a father, this seldom came up as an issue, Data probably never noticed this habit of Tim’s. Now he sat before T’Lora with a plate of food in front of him, he hadn’t eaten all day, he often only ate once a day, and he had hoped actually feeling hungry might make this process easier, it wasn’t. On the plate was a Vulcan dish, to’par, not unlike sushi, small round balls of various steamed aquatic plants. T’Lora ate as well, so as to ease his discomfort. Slowly Tim lifted the fork to his mouth and the moment food entered he felt paralysed, he didn’t want to chew, or swallow, or spit it out, or maybe he wanted to do all three, he was conflicted. He eventually forced himself to eat this one small mouthful. The ordeal over, he placed the fork down feeling pathetic.  
‘I can’t do this’ he stared at his plate, he felt the image must be comical, to be defeated by something so simple.  
‘Then don’t’ T’Lora said with sympathy.  
‘’So what do we do now?  
‘There is one last thing we could try, a mindmeld. It will not cure you, but it will allow me to see the nature of your condition firsthand. As a side effect, our personalities will temporarily merge, so you may feel more comfortable in your own body as I do for a while afterward.’  
Somehow this felt less invasive to Tim than being made to eat in front of someone else, so he agreed.

‘My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts’ was the last thing Tim remembered T’Lora saying before his reality shifted. He was vaguely aware that he was still in her quarters, but he was also within T’Lora’s mind, he felt like he was T’Lora. He felt...emotions? Within her were intense passions, but they flowed within this space, they did not overwhelm her, there was order, there was harmony. But they overwhelmed Tim, he didn’t recognise any emotions, it was just a blinding, deafening cascade of sensations manifest as sound and colour in this psychonautical sphere. He desperately wanted to pull away but he couldn’t. So instead he sank further into T’Lora’s identity, he stopped swimming against the current and let it carry him. He then understood what it was to be a Vulcan, a woman, a mother, an officer of Starfleet as if these were his own experiences. Just as all resistance fell away, he was brought back to reality, T’Lora’s expression was more serious than before.

‘What..what’s going on?’ Timothy felt delirious.  
‘Your condition is far more complicated than I initially imagined.’  
‘What does that mean?’  
‘I’m not sure if there is a way I can help you. But I promise, I will search for someone who might know more. How do you feel now?’  
As if in response, Timothy ate another piece of to’par, but this time with no hesitation, ‘I guess I feel normal right now.’

But the truth was he didn’t even feel like himself, and he wondered if this meant that being normal meant no longer being himself. The anxiety might have gone but he didn’t feel better, he didn’t feel right. The mind meld was only creating a temporary illusion. Was it truly his mind that was the problem, or was it the body?


	6. Tactics

The Enterprise exited warp in a particularly dark and uninhabited area of space, Picard took some comfort in the small armada that accompanied them. They continued their pursuit along the ion trail at a more cautious pace, but it was not long before they discovered they were not alone.  
‘Sir’ Worf broke the eerie silence ‘I am detecting several Borg cubes just beyond visual range and...something else…’  
‘Something else?’ Picard asked.  
The Klingon took a moment to interpret the data on his read-out. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it before, it appears to be some kind of megastructure.’  
‘Do we know anything else about it?’  
‘Not from this distance, all I can say is that it is generating an immense amount of power, enough to equal that of a star.’  
‘Have the nearest Borg cubes detected us?’  
‘Aye, sir.’  
‘Then this is our Rubicon. We proceed, maintain shields.’

The further they travelled, the more Borg cubes appeared around them, the Starfleet ships were but fish amongst the sharks. The air grew more tense and yet none of the Borg cubes acknowledged their presence, they seemed absorbed in another task. As they reached their destination the area became brighter, it seemed as if they were approaching a star, but this light flickered and strobed in the most unnatural way. As they drew even closer it became evident why this was so. The star was surrounded by an incalculable number of Borg cubes, all arranged in a complex array of columns, almost completely encasing the star. As this cage of cubes rotated, the light was distorted, and yet neither the ships nor the star seemed negatively impacted in this relationship.

‘What in the world..?’ Riker said almost to himself.  
‘It is a Dyson Sphere, we have only ever encountered one other in existence when we rescued Captain Montgomery Scott.’ Data turned in his chair to face him.  
‘But this looks nothing like that.’  
‘There is no one means by which a Dyson Sphere may be created, what we are witnessing here is a much more simplified and structurally sound version. A swarm.’  
‘It certainly is,’ Picard agreed. ‘The question now is will they communicate with us?’  
‘Hailing frequencies open’ Worf said.  
‘This is Locutus of Borg, please explain the nature of your activities here.’  
After all these years, merely addressing himself by that name made him uncomfortable. Few could understand the profound disorientation of being robbed of one's identity, to be given a new name was one thing, but there was a time where he accepted it without question. Jean Luc Picard was but a distant memory, another life, another person. During that time he was only Locutus. What was Timothy’s new name? He wondered as they waited for a response.  
‘Oh how I’ve been looking forward to this!’ The view screen came to life and sitting upon an immense black throne was none other than Lore. he was dressed all in black, he wore armour and tubes and sporadic red lights much like the Borg, but on him it seemed merely cosmetic, as if he were appropriating their image for his own purposes.

Data was silently reeling, he had spent all this time convincing himself that his brother was not involved and yet here he was, alive and seemingly unstoppable. He couldn’t fully fathom what this revelation meant, which was perhaps the only thing preventing him from speaking at that moment.

‘Lore? You’re alive?’ Picard exclaimed.  
‘And kicking. I’m an android, you think I need my body to continue existing? The Borg sent nanites into the archives and retrieved my...data. That’s all I am, terabytes and terabytes of information, now rehoused in a superior casing.’  
‘The Borg helped you?’  
‘Well, not everyone was happy with the “Co-Operative”, I think that’s what they’re calling themselves now’, Lore said derisively with air quotations. ‘They wanted their leader back, and who am I to disappoint?’  
‘What is all this here? What are you doing?’  
‘My dear captain, this is what you call a favour. The Borg are too great of a threat to the Federation, so I’m making it that they will never bother you again.’  
‘Is this every Borg cube in the collective?’  
‘Hmm, not quite, but we are so tantalisingly close to completing the set. All these Borg here though? They’re mine, I have absolute control over them.’  
‘And how is this benefitting the Federation? It seems to me you’re amassing an army, if not against the Federation, then who?’  
‘Oh please, we are a type II civilisation here, I’m beyond such petty things. I have access to the collective thoughts of billions of individual Borg.’  
It is only now Picard noticed a densely packed fibre optic cable running from the nape of Lore’s neck connecting to the chair he was seated in. ‘I have ascended. We have no quarrel with you little interplanetary missionaries.’  
‘Am I clear in understanding that there is nothing you want from us?’  
‘Nothing, except that you stay out of our way. You may be shocked to learn my life doesn’t revolve around the lot of you.’  
‘Alright, but there is something we need from you first.’  
Lore seemed to anticipate this, he leaned forward, ‘yes?’  
‘Timothy Blake, you assimilated him on Skhalver, we want him returned to us.’  
Lore’s gaze slowly drifted past the camera, his expression reads as if to say “well? It’s up to you.”  
Whoever it was seemed to hesitate before emerging, to reveal that his entire body and a majority of his face was consumed in Borg technology, his face was deathly pale, but it only took moments for the crew to recognise it as Timothy, and a wave of silent horror passed through the bridge. Data was so sickened by the image he had to turn away from the viewscreen, he felt his whole body begin to tremble uncontrollably.  
Timothy said nothing, what could he say? These were the people he considered family and upon seeing the real Timothy for the first time they were visibly disgusted. Before he could think to say anything Lore wrapped his arm around his shoulder and took over.

‘What’s the matter? He’s perfectly safe and whole, I’d say he’s never been better.’  
Data snapped ‘what have you done to him?!’  
‘Dad, he didn’t do this, I did.’  
‘No, that can’t be true, he’s manipulative, he can make you think whatever he wants.’  
‘You think I’m that stupid? I wouldn’t-’  
Lore raised a hand and Tim was silenced.  
‘Look, clearly we have a lot to discuss. Why don’t we beam aboard?’  
‘Agreed’ Picard said. ‘Give us half an hour to prepare and we will beam you onboard, alright?’  
Lore nodded and cut the feed.

The crew assembled once more in the observation lounge after Picard had finished a quick conference with the other captains in their fleet.  
‘First of all I owe you an apology, Data, it seems your new found instincts proved correct.’ Picard began.  
‘I wish they had not been.’ Data’s gaze was distant.  
‘As do we all. I consulted with the other captains and we are to treat this as any other negotiation. We must avoid hostilities at all costs. If Lore takes aggressive action against us then we are not to engage, we must flee immediately. We are vastly outmatched.’  
The rest of the crew understood what that implied, it could mean war, or more than likely a mass genocide across the galaxy. They may be able to retreat in the short term, but they would only be delaying the inevitable.  
‘At least Lore’s demands seem simple enough: stay out of his way. I just don’t like what he might plan to do when we aren’t looking.’ Riker said.  
‘You speak as if he’s won already’, Data said.  
‘If there’s a way to gain the upper hand in this situation, I’d like to hear it.’ Riker asked.  
Data frowned slightly in thought, ‘how do the Borg communicate remotely?’  
Riker caught on, ‘it’s some kind of signal, isn’t it?’  
‘Specifically an electromagnetic one, not unlike our subspace communications.’  
‘And you think you could sever the connection between the entire collective?’ Picard asked.  
‘No sir, I think that would require more resources and power than we currently have. But once Lore and Timothy are onboard, severing their connection to the collective should be relatively straightforward.’  
‘Data’s right, sir,’ Geordi concurred. ‘All we would need to do is set the shields to emit an electromagnetic pulse, it would disrupt their communications. Problem is, we won’t be able to communicate with anyone either.’  
Picard leaned back in his chair, ‘hmm, that puts us in a difficult position. We can’t notify the other ships of our plan, even now, the Borg may be listening to our communications. And we can’t know how the Borg will respond if they lose contact with their leader. Lore would have accounted for this.’

The crew sat in thought for a moment until Riker spoke, ‘what if we warped somewhere they couldn’t track us? There must be a black hole or some kind of anomalies within reach.’  
‘It might buy us some time at the very least. But what about the rest of the fleet?’  
‘Sir, I can send my security officers to relay this information in person,’ Worf suggested.  
‘Yes, I believe that’s our most reasonable option. We don’t have much time now, let your officers know we won’t be able to retrieve them before we depart.’

Timothy and Lore were soon beamed aboard the Enterprise, but not into the transporter room, nor the observation lounge, instead they found themselves in individual holding cells in the brig. Timothy felt the collective voice of the Legion suddenly silenced, it was such a shock to the system that he began to seize. As he lost consciousness the last thing he heard was Lore shouting, ‘no, stop! You’re killing him!’


	7. Negotiations

Data cautiously approached the cell, his voice soft as he asked ‘is he alright?’  
Beverly looked up at Data, ‘he experienced a seizure, he’s fine now. I’ve never seen anything like it, his brain is currently being converted from organic to synthetic matter. Severing his link to the collective in this state proved too much for him.’  
Beverly moved away from the bed giving Data a clear view of his son, or what was left of him. The briefest glimpse proved too much, Data felt compelled to turn away, why couldn’t he look at him? He didn’t understand what he was feeling, but it was painful.

Beverly placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder ‘I know, this must be hard for you. But we might still be able to reverse some of this.’  
Data forced himself to look, all he recognised was part of Timothy’s face, the rest was cold and mechanical, black and gleaming under the harsh light.  
‘No.’ Data placed a hand on Tim’s face, still warm, still alive.  
‘He wanted this.’  
Riker’s eyes widened ‘you’re saying he chose this?’  
‘Do you recall his desire to be an android when he was a child?’  
‘Of course, but he outgrew that, didn’t he? I mean all that therapy-’  
‘No. He simply learned to hide it from everyone, apart from myself.’  
Worf scowled ‘if you knew, then why did you conceal it?’  
Data shot a look at him ‘it was a private family matter, do you not keep Alexander’s secrets?’  
‘My son is not a danger to the crew of this ship.’  
‘Nor was mine!’ Data snapped but quickly regained his composure. ‘...Until now. Could anyone have foreseen this?’  
Everyone was silent.  
‘Hah, really? I saw this coming a mile away, you were all too stupid to see it.’ Lore called from the cell next door. They all shot him a look, but he continued, ‘so when am I seeing your captain, anyway? Or are you thinking of holding me here forever? Because I gotta say, that’s really not going to solve anything.’  
‘I’m ready to negotiate now, Lore’, Picard said as he entered the room.  
‘Here? In this cell? I mean, if it gives you the illusion of control, I suppose...’  
‘I see no reason to detain you. Open the cell.’

Although Lore had never been in the observation lounge before, he intuited that the chair at the head of the table was usually reserved for the captain, without hesitation he took it and watched Picard attempt to play this off as if he had expected it. Once Data and the captain had taken their seats, Picard asked, ‘how long have you known about Timothy?’  
‘Always.’  
‘How?’  
‘I like to keep tabs on my brother, how did you think we lured you to Ohniaka III? Starfleet data security isn’t that complicated, you know. Now Ferengi banking systems, their security is a work of art.’  
Data glared at him.  
‘Oh yes, I know everything, even the time you tried to kill your own son,’ Lore gloated.  
‘What?’ Data was genuinely confused.  
‘Did you forget?’ Lore laughed. ‘Apparently you were having nightmares, you were even sleep walking, the murderous kind. Let’s see, you stabbed Counsellor Troi in the shoulder, and you slashed Timothy’s throat.’  
Data’s jaw clenched, he hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone, the nightmares had been caused by interphasic organisms from Thanatos VII. While not consciously aware of them, a part of Data’s programming had been attempting to deal with this threat in the only way it knew how. He hadn’t thought about that memory until now, he terrified himself to see what harm he was capable of.  
‘It was an accident,’ Data said coldly.  
‘Whatever, you obviously felt you couldn’t trust yourself after that so you sent the boy away, didn’t you?’  
‘Is that where you found him? But he was only twelve, are you saying-?’  
‘Yep, we’ve been best friends this whole time!’

It hadn’t been difficult to locate Timothy’s new home at his grandparent’s ranch, even easier to infiltrate it. Lore hadn’t even bothered with a fake uniform, he simply showed up in what he usually wore, all black, although this time in civilian clothes rather than Borg armour. When Timothy saw Lore walking up the dusty driveway he was overjoyed, he didn’t at all suspect he was talking to a stranger. At least not at first, while Lore may have had access to all of the Enterprise’s records, there were plenty of minor details he couldn’t know about. They spent a few hours wandering the property and came to rest near the vegetable garden.  
‘Can we go home now, dad?’  
‘I do not know, it is up to the captain.’  
‘But you’re the one who wanted me to come here in the first place?’  
Damn it, Lore thought.  
‘Correct, but it is more complicated than that.’  
‘What do you mean? What do I have to do?’ Tim became more desperate.  
Lore’s annoyance bubbled to the surface, ‘nothing, it’s not you, you just have to be patient.’  
Timothy gave him a concerned sideward glance but said nothing, he knew Data, he wasn’t acting himself. He worried he was yet again malfunctioning or controlled by some other entity, so he quickly and without warning hit the android’s hidden power button on his back. 

When Lore was reactivated he found himself inside the garden shed lying awkwardly, half propped up against the wall where he had evidently been dragged, but he could do nothing about this as his motor functions had been disabled.  
‘Who are you?’ Tim asked, pointing a cattle prod at him.  
‘Oh, I like you’ Lore dropped the pretence, he was impressed by the kid’s ingenuity.  
‘You’re not Data’  
‘No. But we are still family. My name is Lore, you could say I’m your uncle,’ Lore said sweetly.  
‘Dad never mentioned you.’  
‘Not even once? I’m hurt. I thought I meant more to him than that.’  
‘You have emotion?’  
‘Oh yes, I’m everything my brother could never be.’  
Tim was fascinated, he lowered the cattle prod he was holding.  
‘Why are you here? Did Data send you?’  
‘Hah! No. He and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. He never told me about you, but I like to watch over him from afar. I felt you and I should meet.’  
‘I didn’t know androids could be like you.’  
‘I could say the same about you’ Lore winked.  
‘You know about that?’  
‘It’s in your file. Sorry to go snooping, it was the only way to learn about you.’  
‘Why doesn’t dad want us meeting?’  
‘Oh, he’s probably afraid I will be a bad influence. See, unlike your father, I embrace what I am, I am proud to be an android... And you should be too.’  
Tim’s eyes grew wide, ‘you are the first person who has ever told me that.’  
Lore put on his best look of sympathy, ‘let me guess, Data wants you to embrace the beauty and wonder of being human?’  
‘Yeah and he says he’s inferior to humans and that’s not true. It can’t be. But everyone else agrees with him, and I have to go talk to the counsellor all the time, and she tells me I shouldn’t want to be an android, like there’s something wrong with me…’ Timothy reigned himself in, he wasn’t sure why all these things came pouring out of him. He felt he could trust Lore.  
Lore shook his head, the one thing he could move, ‘no, there’s nothing wrong with you, Timothy. You are special, you’re unique. You’re...A visionary, do you know what that means?’  
‘No?’  
‘It means you can see what’s wrong with the world, you can see a better way. Only you can see how limited your biological shell is. Everyone else is too blind to see it. But I am working on a solution. You and I, we could help people ascend.’  
‘What? There’s a way I can become an android?’  
‘Restore my motor functions and I will gladly tell you more.’  
Tim grabbed a needle-like tool and prodded a spot at the base of Lore’s neck.  
‘Timothy!’ he heard his grandfather calling him.  
Lore stood up, ‘not a word about me, okay?’  
‘Okay’  
‘Promise?’  
‘Promise.’  
Tim turned and shouted out the shed door, ‘yes?’  
His grandfather entered, ‘oh didn’t know you were here, Mr.Data. What were you two doing?’  
Timothy turned to his new friend. Lore spoke as Data once more, ‘Timothy was just showing me around the ranch. It occurs to me that there are ways you may be able to operate the ranch for greater efficiency. If I might make some suggestions...’  
‘Uh, no that’s quite alright, Mr.Data. Just came to tell Tim dinner is ready.’

‘I stayed there for three days,’ Lore said as he concluded the story, ‘he told me everything about himself.’  
‘So you could exploit him, why? To get to me?’  
Lore looked offended, ‘that is a severe accusation.’  
‘Then why did you seek Timothy out?’ asked Picard.  
‘Okay, at first I was going to just use him as an inside man, but he has proven himself quite useful over the years. Still I suppose I could spare him, the real question is does he want to leave? Have you spoken to him? Is he capable of speaking or did you destroy his brain?’  
‘He is perfectly alright, aside from what you have done to him’ Data stared his brother down.  
Picard ignored this, ‘so you have no problems with handing Timothy over to us?’  
‘None, I don’t care. Of course if I can’t get your assurance that Starfleet will stay out of my way, then maybe I will have to hold onto him. Up to you.’  
Picard nodded gravely, ‘it will take sometime to compile a treaty like this, we will also need to communicate with Starfleet command. We’re currently jamming our signals right now so the Borg can’t find us. Can you promise us that they won't attack?’  
‘What would we get out of doing that?’ Lore said like it was obvious.  
Picard looked at him.  
‘Yes, I promise,’ Lore rolled his eyes.


	8. Intimacy

Timothy opened his bleary eyes to see T’ara above him, a halo of light behind her head.  
‘Hey’, he croaked, he extended a hand to brush the hair out of her face, he stopped when he noticed his mechanical hand. He sat up and took in his appearance and surroundings of his cell.  
‘Did you forget what had happened?’ T’ara asked, putting her tricoder away.  
‘For a moment, yeah,’ Timothy’s head ached.  
‘We anticipated that, your memories should return soon,’ her voice was colder than usual.  
She stood up to leave, but Tim caught her arm, he had tried to be gentle but she flinched and yet did not pull away. He caressed her hand, and she sat down beside him again, she ran her hands along his dark metallic body, explored it, it was not all hard and cold, there were parts of silicon, others were finely decorated with honeycomb patterns that glistened like fish scales as she ran her hand along them. He drew in closer for a kiss, she let him, feeling, tasting, breathing in the very last of his humanity. She wanted to take it all in as much as she could before it was gone forever. He then began moving down her neck, the same yearning in his movements as hers. They both knew this was goodbye without saying it. T’ara’s eyes glanced out the forcefield, the guard couldn’t see them from this angle, the room curved in such a way to accommodate more cells. Timothy tested his weight against hers as they spread out on the bed. While she was as strong as any Vulcan, Timothy was much heavier now, his limbs were so precise and powerful, he could crush her, but she wasn’t afraid, there was something thrilling about it. She then felt his hand searching between her legs through her uniform.

‘Timothy’ she gasped as her eyes flew open. He had never been this confident about intimacy before, he seemed so comfortable, it was as if she was seeing who he really was for the first time. Timothy was suddenly able to do many things he couldn’t in his human body, he didn’t recoil from T’ara’s touch. As much as he loved her, as much as he had wanted to be able to get closer to her, he hadn’t wanted that to happen in a body he didn’t identify with. He could never describe it before, it had felt wrong, it had been a vulnerable shell. He didn’t like how his body had reacted, so many confusing sensations that didn’t belong to him, that he couldn’t control. But now he could focus and be himself. He got up and frosted the forcefield. The security officer lazily glanced over, and smirked to himself before returning to his book. Tim returned to T’ara, she noticed that even his walk had changed, no longer light and boyish, but the powerful steady stride of a stalking predator. She climbed on him where he stood and wrapped her legs around his waist, she wanted to really get a sense of this new body, he remained perfectly steady with her on him. He could feel her, his exoskeleton capable of precise feedback, she felt almost weightless. Timothy then pulled the zipper down her back and practically tore her uniform off, he was quickly adapting to his newfound strength, he was being rough but he knew the amount of force he was using now. It was as if he was releasing years of repressed feelings, and T’ara wanted him to let it all out, so she told him not to be gentle. He pinned her down again, held her arms as his face travelled down her naked ivory body. When he reached his destination, once again he didn’t hesitate. He got to work, stimulating her outer parts and finally penetrating the centre as if he had experience. No, not experience, he was just very methodical, he was taking his time, he was paying close attention to her, wanting to get it right. T’ara felt the tension rising inside, her breath was short, shaky and rapid, but he wasn’t ready to let her finish just yet, he surfaced, running his hands along her arching back and her breasts. He loved feeling her delicate ribs, and her narrow waist, so small and fragile under his mechanical hands. He held her throat and thrilled at the power he possessed and chose to restrain. And what’s more, she seemed to trust him to do so. He may not have been able to feel physical arousal anymore, but this feeling was something greater, something higher. It wasn’t about base pleasures of the flesh for him, to know he was the source of T’ara’s stifled moans of barely contained ecstasy was something more rewarding, more selfless. He was also able to explore his new body, his new power, he was unwaveringly precise, no nerves or doubt clouding his performance. Tim felt in full control for once in his life and he finally decided to release T’ara, she gripped the mattress in anticipation, back arching once more, and then she felt the supernova within herself for the first time with someone else. The only partner she’d ever had. 

T’ara lay there catching her breath, Timothy came to lie beside her, she stroked his face, she thought she had known everything there was to know about this man, but evidently they were only meeting properly for the first time. Just as she contemplated what kind of future they would have together, she then remembered the thousands murdered and injured on Skhalver and in the Co-Operative that he had a hand in, and she suddenly sat up and got dressed.  
'I could have accepted you like this, it's what you did to become what you are, that is the problem. You’re a traitor.' T’ara’s gaze didn’t break from Tim’s, she noticed his one uncovered eye was now yellow, Lore’s signature on his face.  
'I’m sorry, I really am. I didn't expect to see you again, I didn't want to hurt you, or anyone else for that matter.' Tim said.  
‘And you think abandoning us without a word wasn’t going to hurt? What about all those people who died or were assimilated, Timothy?’  
'I had no control over that, I didn’t want that. But I had to do this. I did it for the people I love.’  
‘What do you mean?’  
‘We should not have to accept this weak flesh, this prison. Lore has found a way, we can save everyone,' the look of a zealot in his eye.  
T’ara looked at him as if he were a stranger. 'But this is what we are, Timothy, you cannot separate the brain from the body, they are one and the same.'  
'No, we can evolve, we can ascend, this is where our path is meant to lead us. When you started discussing having children, I couldn't bear the thought, we would bring them into this world for what? To suffer and die? That's not fair.'  
'So this is because you lost your parents?'  
'No. Well maybe that's a part of it. But I believe what we are doing is the right thing.'  
T’ara changed the subject, ‘I never asked, why don’t you ever speak of your parents?’  
The tension in his shoulders dropped, ‘I didn’t want to be reminded of them anymore.’  
‘Why not?’  
‘It’s not relevant right now.’  
‘I think it is.’  
Timothy sighed with what was left of his organic lungs, ‘if you’re expecting some neat little origin story about trauma making me what I am, then I’m afraid to disappoint. I just don’t like remembering that life, I was confused and alone. They weren’t bad parents, just busy and I was too different from my older siblings, too difficult. When they died I did feel powerless, yes, and you know me, I always want to be able to help, to be able to do something. But no, I haven’t done this to myself because of mummy or daddy issues.’ 

T’ara studied him, but before she could say anything her comm sounded, ‘Crusher to T’ara, are you still in the brig?’  
‘Yes, sorry, Doctor, I’m on my way back now.’  
T’ara lowered the forcefield with the remote key medical staff were given. She turned to Timothy one last time.   
‘Did I ever really know you? Or were you pretending the entire time?’  
‘No, I was as real as I could be with you. And your family. I can’t thank them enough for helping me to understand myself, to be less alone. I love you all.’  
T’ara gave only a curt nod and left.

Moments later Picard entered with a few security officers and Lore in tow.  
‘Good to see you’re still functioning, nephew,’ Lore said as he returned to his cell.  
‘I am fine now, it’s just too quiet.’  
‘I know, it won’t be too much longer now.’  
Picard was confused, Lore claimed not to care about Timothy but here he was showing just that. What was he playing at? Picard then approached Timothy’s cell and observed him silently for a moment, Timothy returned the gaze. He was now an unknown quantity, the captain didn’t know where his allegiances lay or how he would behave.  
‘I know everything about you, Loctus,’ Timothy said, his voice was neutral, but it might have been a taunt.  
‘You’ve stripped away every part of your humanity,’ Picard said quietly, pity in the edge of his voice.  
‘No, I haven’t. Why is it that the Federation is so accepting, so inclusive; every race, religion and ideology is welcomed, except for augmentation? I am not less than human, I am more than human. But that’s a greater threat to society than any alien could ever be, right? I’m proof that you’re not perfect. You’re obsolete. And that makes you uncomfortable.’ There was a rehearsed quality to it, Picard believed he was just saying what Lore wanted to hear.  
‘You’ve sacrificed more than you will ever understand.’  
Timothy scoffed.  
‘If I release you, can you be trusted?’  
‘What would I do? You’re nothing to the Legion,’ Tim said imperiously.   
‘Alright, your father is waiting for you in his quarters.’  
The forcefield was lowered and Timothy exited expecting this to be some kind of trick, but it wasn’t.


	9. Crystalline Entity

Timothy entered the quarters he had once shared with Data, it had only been a couple of weeks since he had slept here, but it felt like a lifetime ago. Soon he wouldn’t require sleep at all. He saw Spot lying in her bed, she awoke as he approached and she yowled in terror before taking cover under the table.  
He tried to coax her out, ‘Spot, it’s just me, calm down.’  
Tim looked up to see Data, his expression unreadable.   
Tim stood up again, ‘hi, dad.’  
‘Timothy, we’ve got a lot to talk about.’  
‘I know.’  
“What are you doing with Lore? He does not care about you.’  
‘Did he say that? Of course he did, he’d never admit it. He needs me.’  
‘Why do you say that?’  
‘He doesn’t have anyone else, not really. The Legion are just his subjects, but he would spend a lot of time with me, he told me things I don’t think he would tell anyone else.’  
‘When? On this ship?’  
‘No, too risky. I’d tell him when we were getting some surface time and we would meet up.’  
Data thought about it for a moment, ‘Setmer?’  
‘Yeah, that was the time Lore took me to meet a Crystalline Entity.’ A wistful look crossed Timothy’s face.  
Data’s eyes widened, ‘there is more than one? And how did you survive? They destroy everything in their path.’  
‘Not if you know how to speak to them, they’re not evil, they just don’t understand organics. They only understand synthetic life.'

Timothy described the memory of that day in more detail to Data. He had been standing in a clearing on Setmer, a verdant M class planet at which the Enterprise had come to rest for restock and repairs. As was usual during this time, the crew and their families took this opportunity for shoreleave. While not strictly necessary since the advent of holodecks, some leisure time on new worlds was always a welcomed change from the permanently brightly lit beige halls of the Enterprise.Timothy had informed Lore of where he was going to be and they had arranged to meet at these coordinates. Soon a shuttle dropped down from the atmosphere and landed a few feet from him.

The door opened to reveal Lore, dressed in purple and black, still keeping his association with the Borg a secret from Timothy.   
‘There’s my favourite little android.’  
‘Lore!’ Tim excitedly rushed over to greet him.  
‘It’s been a while, you’ve gotten taller, by nine centimetres by the looks of it.’  
‘How can you tell?’  
‘What, you can’t measure things with your eyes?’  
‘I must be missing that program,’ Tim joked.  
Lore smiled, ‘today I want you to meet a special friend of mine’.   
He produced a space helmet for Timothy who took it with a look of confusion.  
‘Where are we going?’  
‘Up there,’ Lore pointed to the ghostly apparition of one of Setmer’s moons.  
‘It’s a barren rock, the safest place for our meeting, we aren’t likely to be detected.’  
Timothy was excited, he’d never been on a spacewalk before, he knew some of the older high school students got to go on spacewalks in their final year, but he was only fourteen. He wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about it, but it didn’t matter, he was sharing this experience with Lore.

Within a few minutes they had set down on the moon, Timothy suited up and took Lore’s hand as he made his first tentative steps into space. The moon had no atmosphere, and the gravity was lighter than it was on most M Class planets, he was uncoordinated as he tried to relearn to walk. Lore on the other hand seemed unfazed by the environment, he had removed his coat, but otherwise he wore regular clothing. There were flecks of frost on his skin and hair and even eyes, moisture he had likely accumulated on Setmer and in the shuttle. Timothy took in the view, it was one thing to see space from the safety of a ship, but to stand in the open was another thing entirely. And then he saw it emerge from the horizon, a massive floating coral-like structure made of crystal.  
‘Timothy, this is a Crystalline Entity,’ Lore said proudly.  
‘This is your friend?’ Timothy’s voice was filled with awe.  
‘One of them, my brother killed the first one I befriended,’ Lore’s expression darkened.  
‘Why?’ Timothy asked, not taking his eyes from the hypnotic shimmer of the entity.  
‘He never learned to communicate with it, too lost in his human perspective. In his own way, I think he was afraid.’  
‘But Data doesn’t have feelings.’  
‘Not the way I do, no. But he can still make judgments, he judged my friend without speaking to it first.’   
‘How can you talk to it?’  
Lore guided him closer, the entity dropped down to meet them, it emitted sounds like a chandelier. ‘I can teach you, you just have to listen.’  
‘How can I hear it, we’re in space- wait, how I can hear you?’  
Lore smiled knowingly, ‘exactly, we’re sharing in the entity’s space now.’  
Timothy reached out and touched the crystal, it hummed under his glove, somewhere in the back of his mind he sensed its curiosity. It didn’t know what he was. It was searching for organic matter but detected none. Concluding that Timothy was neither food nor a threat it seemed to turn its attention to Lore.  
‘The Crystalline Entities have always recognised me as one of their own,’ Lore explained as he also touched one of the entity's many branches. ‘They too are synthetic beings, though they have no creator as far as they know. They simply grow out of the inorganic matter drifting in space. Truly such majestic creatures.’  
'It's so massive' Timothy said.  
'Oh this one is tiny, barely a century old. They continue to grow for their entire lives. Some are the size of this moon.'  
'No way!'

Timothy spent over an hour in the presence of the Crystalline Entity, marvelling at this ancient, mysterious being, but it felt like he had been there only minutes when Lore guided him back to the shuttle.  
‘Do we have to go?’ Timothy looked over his shoulder as if trying to take in as much of the entity as he could while he still had the chance.  
‘You’ve been gone too long already, but I am pleased you respect the entity as much as I do.’

By the time they returned to the surface of Setmer, Timothy was even less willing to return to his ordinary life. He had made it a few metres away from the shuttle when he changed his mind, in his imagination Lore must have had a magical life beyond anything he knew now, and he wanted more of that.  
‘No, I want to go with you!’ Timothy ran back to the shuttle.   
Mercifully his uncle opened the door again, ‘I enjoy your company, kid, I do. But I don’t know the first thing about raising a human child, and frankly I don’t care to learn!’  
‘I’m not a baby, I can take care of myself, you won’t even--aargh!’  
Lore turned around again to see what appeared to be a green vine with red thorns extending down from the tree and hooking itself under Timothy’s arm, embedding into his shoulder. It was threatening to lift him off the ground, but Lore quickly snapped into action and pulled at the vine. It turned out it wasn’t a vine at all, but the long tail of some alien creature. He pulled it to the ground and crushed it under his boot with all his android strength.

He then turned to his nephew and gently unhooked the tail and its thorns from his skin.  
‘You idiot, how did you not see that?’ Lore scolded the boy.   
‘I’m sorry.’  
‘And you say you can look after yourself.’ He scoffed, ‘I was right, you would only slow me down.’  
“It was just a mistake, it won’t happen again- ah!’ Timothy winced as the last of the thorns were removed.  
‘Androids don’t make mistakes.’  
‘I know, and I’m trying, I swear.’

Lore went quiet as he crouched down to observe the creature he had killed, he then stood up suddenly. ‘Come on, we’ve got to get you back to the Enterprise soon. Looks like this thing is highly venomous.’  
‘What?! Am I going to die?’  
‘Not if we get you home quickly.’  
‘But I don’t want to go home. Why can’t you just take me to another hospital?’  
‘You’re still on about that? Look, if I am seen anywhere with you, especially somewhere like a hospital, they’re going to find us and you’ll never see me again. You want that?’  
Tim’s shoulders sagged. ‘No,’ he said quietly.

They walked as quickly as they could until they got back to the spot Lore had first met up with Timothy. The sun was just beginning to lower, they could still hear the Enterprise families on the other side of the trees; the adults talking, the children laughing and shouting. Lore stopped and looked at Tim, he had already begun to turn pale.   
‘Does it hurt?’  
‘My arms are going numb, especially the left one, and I am kinda dizzy. But no, it doesn’t hurt.’  
Lore got down on Tim’s level, ‘good. No matter how bad it gets, remember, this body, it’s not you. You are an android, you are stronger than the flesh.’  
Tim nodded, ‘pain is weakness, and I am not weak.’  
‘Alright, now go.’

Tim stumbled through the clearing, the vertigo intensifying with each step.  
‘Daddy, is Timothy,’ little Molly was the first person to spot him as she walked the path with her father.  
O’Brien caught hold of Tim and set him down against a tree, ‘are you alright, son?’  
‘I got stung by something, it’s not so bad.’ Tim attempted to get up.  
‘I’ll be the judge of that’, O’Brien pulled back Tim’s collar to see purple inflamed skin on his shoulder.  
‘Oh no!’ Molly cried.  
‘Geez, Molly’s right, whatever it was, it got you pretty good. You shouldn’t go wandering off like that. Come on, I’ll get you to sickbay.’

‘I’m sorry, I’m ruining your shore leave.’ Timothy said as Dr.Crusher inspected his wound. Data stood by, observing.  
‘No need to apologise, Tim. These things happen.’ Crusher took the readings from the tricorder and transferred them to the computer.  
‘You say this creature was plant-like, green with red thorns?’ she asked.  
‘Yeah.’  
‘Hmm, then it looks like the culprit was an Arboreal Spinosus Diabolus.’  
‘Thorny tree devil?’ Timothy guessed.  
‘Ah I see you know your Latin.’ Crusher said, she then pointed to the monitor. ‘It does have a native name too, I can’t pronounce it though, can you?’  
Tim got off the bed for a closer look, ‘Skre-tr-em...Heh, no, it’s impossible.’  
Data pronounced it without hesitation, something that sounded like ‘Skratormenlentis.’   
‘Show off’ Timothy teased.  
Data gave a small smile.  
Crusher injected Tim with a hypospray, ‘alright Tim, we’re done here. You can get your shirt back on. I’m just going to talk to your father for a minute.’  
Tim did as he was told and returned to his quarters.

‘I remember that,’ Data said, ‘I had been working when I was called into sickbay. I could never have imagined that was what had led to your injury. ’  
Here Data filled Timothy in on the details he hadn’t been aware of at the time.  
As soon as the door was closed, Data asked, ‘is Timothy going to be alright?’  
‘He’ll survive, but these next couple of days are going to be very difficult for him. This creature is rare, and its venom is highly unique. I’m going to have to synthesise an anti-venom from scratch, it could take up to 40 hours.’  
‘Is there anything we could do to accelerate the process?’  
‘Not really. There’s sure to be ready-made anti-venom on Setmer, but it’s not designed for humans, it’s as good as useless.’  
‘What is going to happen to Timothy?’  
‘He’s the first human on record to be stung, but what we can tell from the natives of Setmer is that it causes fever, delirium, hives, nausea, and vomiting. If it affects a human the same way, we can at least do something to ease his symptoms.’  
‘Should he not remain in sickbay under observation?’  
‘Not until he begins presenting symptoms. Children get anxious here, if he expects to feel sick, he will before the venom even begins to take effect.’  
Data nodded, he knew of the nocebo effect, but hadn’t considered it in this context.  
‘The hypospray I gave him should dull his pain receptors and histamine response for the next few hours. As soon as he presents symptoms, bring him back here, okay?’  
‘I will, Doctor. Thank you.’ 

Data was not rostered for duty for another 14 hours, he was glad that he was able to remain in his quarters to observe Timothy. Or observe him as best as he could, Timothy was at the age where his bedroom door was always closed. Data didn’t say anything, taking what Crusher had said into account, maybe even this small request would make Timothy suspect Data was expecting his condition to worsen. It didn’t matter anyway, Timothy might be out of visual range, but Data simply had to turn the gain on his audio processors up and he could hear everything, down to the quietest breath. Six hours passed and Tim’s breathing suddenly became very erratic, Data stopped what he was reading (The Seven Ages of Vulcan Poetry), and entered his son’s room. 

Data found the room in total darkness, but he could easily see Timothy hunched over on the floor, clutching his head.   
‘It’s so loud and I can’t stop it.’  
‘Timothy?’ He then spoke to the ship, ‘lights at-’   
‘No! Don’t turn the light on, it hurts.’  
‘Then I will not.’ He took a seat beside Tim, he placed a hand on the nape of the boy’s neck, his skin had been too cold mere hours ago, it was now too warm. ‘What is loud?’   
‘My breathing, it’s all I can hear. Disgusting wet sponges in my chest. And it’s never going to stop. I just want it to stop.’  
‘You’re very sick, Timothy, we need to get you back to sickbay.’  
‘No, it’s too bright out there.’  
‘Then I will ask Dr.Crusher to come here.’  
‘No, I can handle this myself. I’m not weak.’  
‘Data to sickbay’  
‘Crusher here, how is he?’  
Timothy looked betrayed but then left for the bathroom.  
‘He has developed a fever and what I believe to be delirium. He refuses to leave his room, please advise.’  
‘I’ll be right over, we can monitor him remotely if we have to.’

Timothy heaved into the toilet and then lay on the cool tiles, he seemed to stare at his hands in the dim light coming from the windows. ‘I’m disgusting.’  
‘Your body is doing what it can to defend against the venom, it is a remarkably complex system. It is nothing to be ashamed of.’ Data gently picked Timothy up off the floor, they sat together with their backs against the bathroom cabinet.  
‘I don’t care, I’m not meant to be like this.’  
‘Human, you mean?’  
Tim turned away, only now having enough sense to realise what he was saying out loud.   
‘I thought we were past this, Timothy. You are not an android.’  
‘I know!’ Tim snapped. ‘You think I don’t know? I just wish it wasn’t true. I hate living like this.’  
‘What is wrong with being human?’ Data’s calm demeanour stood increasingly in stark contrast with Timothy’s delirious fervour.  
‘You’ll never understand’ Timothy’s body was screaming at him more than it ever had before. ‘I want to tear my skin off, it itches, it’s too hot, then it’s too cold. My throat burns, I can feel my organs squirming like eels inside of me. I feel too much, I hear too much. I can hear my heart, I can hear my lungs. It’s all so, so loud, and I can’t stop it. I can’t ever stop it. It will only stop when I’m dead.’  
Timothy tried to gain some control over himself and added more calmly, ‘I wish I could explain how it makes me feel in a way you could understand.’  
‘Try’  
‘...I just feel...wrong. Like I’m trapped.’  
Data drew his son closer and held him, Timothy didn’t protest, he pressed his ear to Data’s chest and focused on the quiet hum and chime-like sounds of his inner mechanisms. Timothy imagined they were the sounds of his own body.  
‘How long have you felt this way?’ Data asked, his voice ringing out through his chest cavity in the most inhuman way.  
‘Always.’  
‘Even before you met me?’  
‘Sort of, yeah. But I didn’t understand it, not like I do now. I just felt bad for no reason. You’re not going to tell anyone are you?’  
Data was conflicted, ‘I may have to, Timothy.’  
Tim pulled away from him, ‘no, you can’t, they’ll take me away from you!’  
‘No one wants to do that Timothy, they just want to help you.’  
‘No one can help me, I’m human, there’s no changing that. Not unless you see Q again.’  
‘But Counsellor Troi can help you accept yourself as human’.  
Tim got unsteadily to his feet ‘I don’t want to be human! But you do! Why don’t they reprogram you to just accept that you’re a robot! But it’s not what you are, and this is not what I am.’  
This seemed to thwart Data, he just stared up at Timothy blankly. Tim felt he had crossed a line, why was he saying all these things? He was losing control. Acting human.  
The alert for the front door sounded, cutting through the tension in the room.

‘I don’t remember any of that,’ Timothy said.  
‘That isn’t surprising, you were sedated for the rest of the night,’ Data said.  
‘So you knew how I really felt this whole time?’  
‘I did.’  
‘And you did nothing?’  
‘I continued to help you, we all did, in the only we knew how.’  
‘By making me accept what I was’, Tim’s voice was flat but tinged with disappointment.  
‘What else were we supposed to do? The kind of cybernetics you wanted are beyond Federation technology. I would not have been willing to endanger your life like that, and you were only a child. As it is I worry about what you have done to yourself now.’ Data gestured to Tim’s exoskeleton.  
‘I’m safer now than I ever was. And happier. I can finally be me.’  
Data didn't know how to respond to this, so he changed the subject. ‘Did you know Lore was coming for you on Skhalver?’  
‘No, I just suspected it.’  
‘So you were willing to become a proper mindless drone if you had been wrong?’ Data’s voice sharpened.  
‘If that’s what it took, yeah,’ Timothy looked away.  
‘Timothy!’ Data was shocked.  
‘I don’t expect you to understand, I couldn’t do it anymore, I couldn't keep living as a human, it was killing me.’  
Data seemed to weigh something up in his mind for a moment, ‘I want you to tell me about your assimilation. All of it, how it felt for you. I need to know what happened to you.’  
Tim looked surprised, ‘Dad, are you sure you can handle it? It’s pretty intense.’  
‘I have to know,’ Data steeled himself.


	10. Assimilation

Timothy was guided by one of the Borg down row upon row of corridors, the cube was vast and densely populated. He heard the screams and cries of the newly converted, but he hardly paid them attention. He couldn’t, he didn’t want to think about it. He was going to lose his identity soon, would he care about anything at all? He hoped that at the very least he would have some peace, no longer trapped within an organic body. At last something more, something mechanical, at least in part. What about his memories? Would he look upon them differently too? Would he be indifferent to his friends and family? It didn’t matter, he probably wouldn’t see them again, he pushed the thought away. He felt as if he had been tortured by this dysmorphia as long as he could remember. He just wanted it to stop. He understood if others found that unforgivable. The Borg pushed Timothy into a small chamber where he felt needles embed themselves in his spine, he was paralysed in pain. He felt something cold coursing through his blood, it must be the nanoprobes, converting him on a cellular level. Across his body, beneath the skin, he felt areas harden and rise to the surface. His first implants were appearing. When the pain lessened, he felt able to take in his surroundings. He knew little of the assimilation process, he had no idea what to expect. Anything could emerge from the walls. Part of him, the primal, human part was terrified, he could feel his body trembling, his heart racing. He hyperventilated, even screamed and cried in pain. But that wasn’t him, it was mere reflex. Even if he wasn’t suspended against the wall, he would not attempt to escape. It was painful, but it was pain with a goal.

Timothy felt himself being sliced along his right shoulder, he turned to see a surgical robotic arm seemingly preparing to amputate the limb. He did not look away, he wanted to watch his liberation. He was mostly numb to the pain, but he could still feel the clean, precise incisions through skin and muscle and nerves. Then came the saw to slice through the bone, the vibration shooting through the rest of his torso. He screamed. There was no backing out now. Panic spread through him anyway. Gone was his human appendage, but now he was disfigured, incomplete, less than he was. Mercifully more surgical arms soon emerged and began printing, or knitting, a new arm where his old one had been. He could feel his left side being sliced, but this time he paid it no attention. He watched in awe at the beautiful creation taking place before his eyes. Slowly he felt his consciousness extending into this new limb, he could move it, feel the machines working on it. It was a sleek, black mechanical arm, not unlike what he had always dreamed of.

On and on this continued, piece by piece, the flesh which had caused him so much pain and disgust was taken away. He slipped into a kind of meditative state, calmly observing every action the surgical arms took. Feeling very much like he was transcending to a higher state of being. Finally the blades moved towards his head, they scalped him, and blood ran down his face, blinding him and he couldn’t wipe them clean for he was restrained. While one pair of arms added a plate to his skull, two more went for his eyes. Timothy at first assumed they were tending to the blood, but they applied far too much force, he tried to resist, but was powerless against the machine. He had not flinched when they took everything else away, not even his most intimate parts. But to be blinded, even temporarily, was profoundly vulnerable. He had no choice in the matter regardless, the forceps jammed into his skull and plucked both eyes out. He screamed, he felt as if they had tugged on his brain, on his entire nervous system. Focus. Focus..., he told himself. Focus on your mechanical parts, it doesn’t matter what’s happening to the flesh. The flesh is weak, the flesh is temporary.

He felt an augmentation being inserted in and over his left eye, his eyepiece. Bit by bit he saw flickering light as the connection between brain and cybernetics was established, soon he could see a clear image, it was in the ultraviolet spectrum. Timothy began to hear voices, it was the Collective. He could not make sense of their words yet, but he got a sense of what they were communicating. They were telling him how to adjust his visual spectrum. First he shifted to infrared, then x-ray, then gamma ray. He was amazed at how much he had been missing before. He was brought back to reality again as the surgical arm began working on his other eye. He had never seen a Borg with two artificial eyes before. But this one was not like the eyepiece, it was humanoid, with a yellow iris. While not able to see in as wide a spectrum as the eyepiece, it saw in a level of definition beyond human capability. This allowed him to translate the complex visual data coming from his left eye. It was as if he had been blind his entire life. He had always been dimly aware of his limited senses, growing up with an android for a father will do that.

Finally the surgical arms withdrew into the walls of the chamber and Timothy was released, he took a few unsteady steps forward and noted that for all that pain he had just endured, it had left no residual effect. In fact there was almost no sensation at all, gone were those constant nagging signals from his body.  
‘You’re finally free!’  
Timothy turned, he was delirious and disoriented after the trauma but he recognised the face.  
'Data?' the name slipped out.  
'Guess again, my dear nephew.'  
'Lore. Right, of course. I wasn’t thinking. So this was the sign? I was worried I had made a terrible mistake.’  
‘Sorry to be so covert, but it worked. And you’ve more than proven your loyalty. Now, let’s take a look at you...’ there was genuine pride on Lore’s face.  
‘I’m still an individual?’ Timothy observed.  
‘Oh yes. We aren’t like the rest of the Borg, we aren’t the Collective, we are Legion. Yes, we work in unison, we think in unison, but we are so much more. Why deprive ourselves of passion, or creativity, or emotion? Biological life does not have an exclusive claim to these qualities. The Borg limited themselves, the Legion will surpass them.’  
‘How?’  
‘By converting all organic life into synthetic life. After all these years, I finally cracked it! We will cure the world, Timothy!’  
Timothy became aware of his biological parts, brought a hand to his face and felt that it was still flesh.‘Then I am incomplete.’  
‘Have patience, converting organic matter into synthetic matter isn’t exactly an instantaneous process. But I have liberated you as much as I can. You have even fewer organic components than the rest of my Legion after the surgical phase.’  
‘You knew I was here didn’t you? You came for me.’  
‘You didn’t think I would keep my promise to you?’  
‘It’s just, after all these years, I never thought this day would come. Why didn’t you tell me you were working with the Borg?’  
‘Because I’m not, I’m their leader. And I worried you wouldn’t understand, the Borg don’t exactly have the best reputation.’  
‘No, but I could have handled it.’  
‘You say that, but it’s only because I’ve prepared you for this all these years. Now that we’re unified though, there won’t be any more need to keep secrets from you.’

Data didn’t know how to respond at first, his eyes became glassy and finally he said, ‘this isn’t you.’  
‘Why does everyone keep saying that? I know it’s a lot to take in, but I’m still me’, Timothy said, reaching across the table to take his hand, but Data flinched. Both of them stared in stunned silence for a moment. Data felt so guilty, he hadn’t intended to react like that.  
Before he could say anything, Timothy got up and walked out, as he reached the door he noticed a painting hanging by it, it was the first of many paintings he had made with Data. It was red and black and aggressive, the painting of a lost, confused little boy, and Tim wondered if this is how everyone still thought of him. He would prove them wrong.


	11. Treaty

It was getting late into the night by Federation standard time and the halls of the Enterprise were sparsely populated, although that only made Timothy stand out more to the few people he passed by. Most he recognised, and most couldn’t avoid staring. He had nowhere else to go but back to the brig, he was sure his uncle would like to know what had happened. On his way there, Tim was suddenly hit with the chorus of the Legion, it was practically deafening in comparison to his isolated mind.  
Picard must be contacting Starfleet about the treaty, he thought.  
He was aware that he wasn’t the only one looking through his eyes, many other Borg were interested to know what was happening on the Enterprise, but suddenly that attention shifted away, something was wrong. Timothy looked out the window and understood why, there floated a massive Crystalline Entity. Tim tried to reach out and communicate with it, but there was too much interference coming from the ship. He then tried to contact Lore, but he was silent, had they put a localised dampening field on his cell? Tim wasted no time racing to the bridge where the crew was busy defending the ship.  
‘Shields at 45%, it’s draining our power’, Worf declared.  
Picard turned to Timothy, ‘Did you have anything to do with this?’  
‘No. But I’ve met one before, I know how to communicate with it.’  
‘Is that so?’  
‘But you’ll need to drop the shields, there’s too much interference.’  
‘I cannot advise that, sir’, Worf protested. ‘The creature is far too hostile.’  
‘I know you don’t have much reason to trust me, but I’m the only choice you have’, Tim tried to seem as earnest as possible.  
‘He’s telling the truth’, Troi confirmed.  
‘We could simply destroy it with the same harmonic frequencies as before and avoid the risk’, Worf insisted.  
‘No, I’m not allowing another one of its kind to be destroyed’, Picard ordered the shields to be lowered.

Timothy plugged himself into a console and used it to generate the frequencies needed to communicate with the being. He had only ever been able to listen to the entities, but it had been physically impossible to respond. Now the Enterprise was an extension of himself, he had assimilated with it as he had the Borg. He realised this ship was alive in its own sense, this place that had been his home for so many years knew him, knew everyone that had inhabited it over the course of its life, their memories echoed throughout its hull. Tim understood how blind he had been, how blind all humans were. There was so much around them at all times, the universe was never silent, always resonating, harmonising, flowing. Tim scarcely had the words for it.  
As he spoke to the Crystalline Entity, it halted its attack, he could sense anger, or something parallel to it. Human languages were never designed for a being such as this. Timothy asked it why it felt this way.  
The entity explained that this ship was known, it had killed one of their kind.  
The Enterprise did not deny this, but it explained that it had been sabotage, not the true intention of the crew, who had wished only to communicate with it.  
Timothy relayed this to the entity, but it did not care, it began to latch onto the Enterprise, the hull groaned and squealed in protest.  
‘Timothy!’, he was startled back to reality, Picard was demanding an explanation, he had been silent this whole time.  
‘Sorry, it’s angry, it claims that you killed a Crystalline Entity, it won’t listen to me.’  
‘Yes, that’s a long story.’  
‘Sir, we need to destroy it now!’ Worf insisted.  
‘No!’ Timothy cried. ‘Just give me a moment more.’  
Before anyone said anything else, he connected to the Legion and asked them to trap the entity in a containment field. His voice was just one amongst billions, the rest of the Legion was indifferent to the situation, and yet they complied. It took very little effort on their part to assist, and assisting one of their own was something they prioritised.  
‘Alright. Now what?’ Worf asked Tim.  
‘What do you mean?’  
‘You have it contained, do you intend on holding it forever?’  
Timothy looked out the view screen, ‘I don’t know, I hadn’t thought that far.’  
‘You have done well, Timothy’, Data finally turned in his seat to face him.  
Tim was surprised, all he did was nod in response.  
He reached out to the Legion again, he asked the cube to travel far away and drop the Crystalline Entity there, but they refused. They had been ordered by Lore to stand by and keep watch, Timothy had no authority to overrule him.  
Tim relayed this to the crew, ‘Should I go and talk to Lore?’  
‘I believe I should talk to my brother, Captain, if you’ll permit me’, Data stood up from his seat.  
‘Agreed’, Picard said.  
‘I would also like Counsellor Troi to accompany me.’  
The captain nodded.

Picard soon left to respond to a call from Admiral Necheyev, Timothy was told to remain where he was, leaving him sitting opposite Riker on a quiet bridge. They, along with Worf, and the two ensigns at helm and ops, watched as the Crystalline Entity struggled against its confines.  
‘How long can the Borg hold this thing?’ Riker asked.  
‘Indefinitely, the entity does not present much of a challenge, and the Legion is almost entirely inorganic, it can’t harm us even if it escaped.’  
Riker looked at Tim, seemed to consider his next words, ‘You would have been a good officer, you know.’  
‘I know’, Tim looked away.  
‘How long have you been a part of the collective?’  
‘Only six and a half hours now.’  
‘What’s it like?’  
Tim looked at Riker, he seemed to just want to understand, there was no malice in his questions.  
‘It’s not what I expected, I was prepared to lose my identity, but here I am, one but also many. I haven’t fully assimilated yet, I don’t know everything there is to know, but it doesn’t seem like a bad life.’  
‘I’ve been inside a Borg cube before, I wouldn’t exactly call it cozy. What do they do all day? I’ve never been able to imagine.’  
‘We don’t need to do much with our bodies, except when we repair and maintain the cube, or when we scout a planet. But in our minds we experience things you wouldn’t believe. Each one of us is like an individual neuron in an immense brain. I never realised how profoundly lonely it was to be human, we never truly know anyone, sometimes not even ourselves. Can you imagine, billions of individuals, dreaming as one?’  
‘The Borg can dream?’  
‘Not usually, but the Legion can. We can feel, we can be creative,’ there was a beatific look in his eyes.  
‘That doesn’t sound so bad, then.’  
They both fell into silence again, watching the view screen.  
‘Tell me, Commander, what do you see out there?’ Timothy asked.  
Riker looked ahead, ‘uh, the cube, the Crystalline Entity, stars…’  
‘There’s so much more than that. I used to see the Borg as floating through a void, destroying all in their path, but it’s not like that at all. They can see the universe for what it really is, they can harmonise with it, it’s like this whole hidden language. I don’t speak it fluently yet, but I can hear it. There’s so much to learn, they have memories stretching back millions of years. And I think they just wanted everyone else to experience that too.’  
Worf grunted behind them, Riker shifted in his seat, and Tim realised what he had said, he’d forgotten himself for a moment.

Thankfully Picard entered and cut through the awkwardness, he wanted to talk to Timothy. Following him back into the ready room, Timothy took a seat before the desk. He noticed his mind was silent again, there was a dampening field in this room.  
‘How much do you know about Lore’s previous encounters with the Enterprise?’ Picard asked.  
‘Not much, no one here ever mentioned him, I didn’t know about him until we met.’  
‘He doesn’t share his mind with you?’  
‘No, we’re not like other Borg, we choose to volunteer information.’  
‘Then you won’t know how dangerous he is. He’s responsible for thousands, perhaps millions of deaths, when we found him he was working with a Crystalline Entity. But Lore was using this creature, much like he uses everyone around him, he turned it into a weapon against his enemies.’  
‘And you think he’s done the same with me?’  
‘I think you’re intelligent, and strong-willed, and you got what you needed from Lore. I’m just sorry that we couldn’t be the ones to help you. But I also believe you are a man of conscience, I refuse to believe you feel no remorse for attacking the Co-Operative.’  
Tim said nothing and looked away.  
‘And you think that will be the last of it? He’s going to continue to use you as a soldier in his cause, that’s all you mean to him.’  
‘That’s not true, I know it’s not,’ Tim snapped.  
‘Are you really choosing him over your own father? Over your friends? Over this crew that has treated you like family, that rescued you from certain death?’ Picard’s voice sharpened.  
Tim hung his head, ‘I don’t want to do these things, but I’m the only one Lore trusts, I can’t betray him, it would destroy him.’  
Picard sighed, ‘the Federation won’t sign the treaty.’  
Tim looked up suddenly, ‘What? Oh no.’  
‘Yes, the Federation considers the Legion an enemy, negotiations are to cease, I have been ordered to deactivate Lore, and...I am to infect you with an invasive program to destroy the Borg.’  
Tim looked distressed, ‘But you’re not going to do that, right? That’s not going to solve anything. It’s just going to make everything worse.’  
‘What will happen?’  
‘Lore is the Legion, his consciousness resides both within his body and his throne on the flagship. We will build another Lore, and he will retaliate with full force. You don’t stand a chance.’  
Picard leaned back in his seat, how does one defeat an enemy without a singular body? He had encountered many amorphous beings, but never one that could make endless copies of himself.  
‘And what about the virus?’  
‘We have firewalls, at best you might take out a few hundred of us.’  
‘So what do you think we should do?’  
‘Just let us go, Lore didn’t even care about the treaty anyway, he only wanted to see how the Federation would react to this kind of power.’  
Picard darkened at this, ‘You know I can’t do that, Timothy, there are countless lives at stake, he will continue to destroy worlds and assimilate people. You have no objection to this?’  
‘Of course not, who would want to be a biological being?’  
‘Most people happen to like being the way nature intended them.’  
‘No, that’s the thing, this is the next stage, this is the natural order of things, you can all evolve, ascend. You can’t understand what it’s like, there’s so much more, I couldn’t truly see it before but now I do. I want to free everyone, from pain, death, ignorance. Lore is doing the right thing, from here on out, we are just assimilating. We only had to remove those that threatened our success, but that’s done now. Assimilation is a good thing. So do whatever you want to me and this version of Lore, it doesn’t matter. The Legion can’t be stopped.’  
Picard said nothing but pressed a device on his desk.  
‘Why can’t I move?’ Tim asked.  
‘I wanted to trust you, but you’ve lied to us repeatedly. You had every opportunity to inform us of Lore’s intentions. You’ve caused us to waste crucial time. Now I’m begging you, Timothy, give me another solution here.’

Lore paced his cell as Data and Troi approached the forcefield dividing them, ‘where’s Timothy?’  
‘Why do you need to know?’ asked Data.  
Lore smiled, ‘suspicion instead of a direct answer, maybe you can learn new tricks, brother. So, to what do I owe the pleasure?’  
‘We intend to find out what you are planning.’  
‘Hah, and what’s a telepath going to do? I’m not organic, remember?’  
‘Perhaps not,’ Troi spoke. ‘But I’ve always been able to sense Data’s emotions. Your father made you very well, you have a body, and it responds to stimulus much like an organic being would. I can sense the changes in your skin, I can read every little look in your eyes. I don’t need to read your thoughts.’  
Lore was not intimidated, ‘this should be fun.’  
Data got straight to the interrogation, ‘Did you lure the Crystalline Entity here?’  
‘There was a Crystalline Entity here? I wondered what the commotion was.’  
‘He’s lying’, Troi said flatly.  
Lore shot her a look.  
‘Okay, maybe I knew it was here, but I didn’t invite it here.’  
‘Lies. It’s too much of a coincidence.’  
Lore let out a huff, realising he had nowhere to hide, ‘Alright, I brought it here.’  
‘Why? You already overpower us, it was not meant as a threat against us, was it?’ Data asked.  
‘No, you’re right, it wasn’t meant for you.’  
‘It was meant for Timothy?’ Data ventured.  
‘You’re getting closer’, Troi said.  
‘Would you cut that out?’ Lore snapped.  
‘No’, Troi said unfazed. If anything, she was slightly amused.  
‘What happened out there? What did he do?’ Lore asked.  
Data recounted how Timothy defended the Enterprise from the entity without harming it.  
‘Good, he did well’, was all Lore said.  
‘What does that mean?’ Troi asked.  
‘I don’t know, aren’t you the Betazoid?’  
‘Half, but I’m sure I can figure it out even if you choose not to talk.’  
‘Really? What is it you think I’m doing then?’  
‘Well, the entity was never a threat to the Borg, only the Enterprise. Timothy saving us only really changes one thing; we are more inclined to trust him now.’  
Lore squirmed.  
‘You want us to let our guard down with him, why? What are you planning?’ Data asked.  
Lore noticed that Data’s voice had remained neutral this entire time, ‘Have you deactivated your emotion chip?’  
‘Yes, it was inhibiting my ability to make rational decisions in this situation, I may reactivate the chip at some point in the future.’  
Lore had a look of smug satisfaction, ‘I knew you couldn’t handle it. Always dreaming of being human, but that’s just not what you’re made to be’. He shrugged, ‘ah but it’s not as much fun picking on you when you can’t be offended.’  
‘What is Timothy supposed to do?’ Troi cut in forcefully.  
‘Maybe there is no plan.’  
Troi eyed him suspiciously, it wasn’t a definitive statement one way or the other, she couldn’t get anything more out of him, and silently indicated as such to Data.  
‘What are you planning, Lore?’ Data asked again.  
‘There’s nothing you can do to make me talk.’  
‘No, but you cannot help yourself.’  
‘Oh, no, I’ve given you enough information, now I want to see you work it out.’ Lore flopped down onto the bed and fell silent.  
‘Come on, if Timothy is up to something and wandering the ship, we need to act now’, Troi took Data by the arm as they headed back to the bridge.


	12. Trust Fall

Picard watched Geordi as he tinkered with the electronics beneath Timothy’s skull plating, he was still immobilised and unable to resist.  
‘What are you doing?’ Data asked calmly as he entered Engineering with Troi.  
Geordi jumped in his seat, ‘Nothing invasive...Just trying to learn how these new Borg work, maybe there’s a weakness we don’t know about.’  
‘Timothy, are you alright?’ Troi asked. Data might have felt nothing, but she was disturbed by the sight before them.  
‘I’m fine,’ was all he said.  
‘Data, have you learned anything from Lore?’ Picard asked.  
‘I believe so, Captain’, said Data, walking over to the nearest terminal. ‘First I will need your authority to access the ship’s source code.’  
Picard complied and Data sifted through millions of lines of code in seconds before he found the hidden executable file he was searching for.  
‘Timothy, when you interfaced with the ship, what else were you doing?’ Data asked.  
‘Nothing, what do you mean?’  
‘I want you to read this’, Data then asked Geordi to release Tim, who approached the screen. His face fell.  
‘No, no, it can’t...I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.’ Timothy lowered himself back into the seat and his gaze grew distant.  
‘What is this?’ Picard asked.  
‘While Timothy was connected to the _Enterprise_ he planted a virus into the system’, Data turned to his son, ‘What does it do?’  
Timothy felt reality distant and spinning, ‘So all of this was just for that? For how long? From the beginning?’  
Troi placed her hand on his shoulder and repeated Data’s question, Tim snapped out of it.  
‘It’s not dangerous, but it’s pretty bad. It’s given the Legion access to all communications, all information and records across the Federation. Lore will know your every move. I’m so sorry.’  
Picard anger simmered just beneath the surface, ‘Am I to understand that the treaty was just a means of convincing us to lower our defences?’  
‘I guess so, the entity showed up just before you got that call. So I implanted the virus and you passed it along to Starfleet headquarters. From there, I can’t even imagine how far it's spread already.’  
‘And I don’t think we could stop it even if we had all the time in the world’, Geordi said, reading the virus’s code. ‘It’s a polymorphic program, every time it appears it’s gonna to look different, it’s impossible to detect.’  
‘We have one hour to find a solution.’ Picard then explained to Data, ‘We’re being observed by the Agamemnon, I have been ordered to install an invasive program into Timothy and send him back to the collective. They’re here to ensure I follow through. But I’m not going to, not if we can avoid it.’  
‘There is one option,’ Timothy spoke up. ‘But you’re not going to like it. Lore has unique control over the Borg because he is an android, and specifically one that has been augmented with Borg technology. I have half of those ingredients, I just need the positronic components to match his. If our minds generate near identical signatures I will be able to override any command Lore gives. I could be a failsafe.’  
‘I cannot allow you to do that, why do I not augment myself and go in your place?’ Data suggested.  
‘What I’m suggesting won’t allow you to destroy the Legion, only control them, you would be committing to a life with the Borg indefinitely. You don’t belong there, Dad, I do.’  
‘How can we trust you?’ Picard cut in. ‘As long as the Legion exists, it poses a threat.’  
‘I don’t think there is a way to defeat Lore, not through sabotage, or war, or anything. All I can hope to do is become his equal. I’ll prevent him from hurting anyone else, no more assimilations. I’ve been thinking about what you said, not everyone wants to be assimilated. There are enough of us, the Borg population rivals that of the Federation, we could simply focus on governing ourselves, exploring the universe. We can’t age or die, our numbers will remain the same.’  
Picard turned to the counsellor who said ‘He’s being honest, but there’s a lot that could go wrong, isn’t there?’  
‘Yeah. I don’t know how Lore will react, if he finds out before I get back to the flagship, he might abandon me...Or kill me.’  
‘Then we must convince Lore that he has won’, Picard said.

The captain left to falsify a treaty, while Data, Geordi and Tim got to work on the positronic augmentations. They all sat around the central table in Engineering and planned the procedure.  
‘I guess this is as close as we’ll ever get to being related,’ Tim said to Data. ‘Parts of my mind modelled after your positronics, it’s kind of like sharing DNA.’  
‘I suppose so’, was all Data said.  
Tim studied his father for a moment, ‘Why’d you deactivate your emotion chip?’  
‘I wanted to be able to view your situation from a perspective unclouded by emotion.’  
‘I think you should reactivate them.’  
‘I will, one day.’  
‘No. No, you know what? I think you should do it now. You need your emotions. I know that’s ironic coming from me, but this is what you’ve always wanted, to have feelings, to be more human. You should embrace who you really are. What’s going on right now, it’s not about calculations and impartiality, it’s about family. I don’t want you to look back on this day with regret. It might be the last time we see each other.’  
Data turned to Geordi, ‘It’s your choice, man.’  
Data decided there was some wisdom in what Tim had said and with Geordi’s assistance, he reactivated the chip. He sat there for a moment, feeling his emotions flowing over his recent memories, colouring them where once they had been merely black and white information.  
‘You okay, Dad?’  
‘Yes. I’m just sorry Lore did this to you.’  
‘Don’t be, I can only blame myself.’  
‘You were a child. I wanted to protect you from him and I thought the best way to do that was to keep him a secret. I was wrong. And now I’m going to lose you to him.’  
‘We don’t know that for certain, maybe we can see each other again.’  
‘Maybe.’

The procedure was a delicate one as Timothy’s brain still had some organic components that had yet to be converted, but with Doctor Crusher’s help they managed to install the modifications without any major difficulties. They returned to the bridge to inform Picard that the operation had been a success and that they were ready to proceed with the plan.  
Timothy noticed there was no dampening field on the bridge, so he reached out to the Legion’s flagship and asked the Borg to release the Crystalline Entity somewhere far from the _Enterprise_. Much to his surprise, they complied, they knew it was Timothy, but they had no choice but to do as he had ordered, the signature from his mind mirrored the one emanating from Lore’s throne, it overwhelmed their protocols. The Borg cube then reappeared almost as quickly as it had disappeared.  
‘It worked!’ He exclaimed.  
No one else shared his excitement, now Timothy possessed seemingly unlimited power. He addressed the room, ‘I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes today, and I can’t say sorry enough. But I am...I was, a Starfleet officer, my duty is to protect the Federation and I still intend to uphold that.’  
‘I hope so’, was all Picard said at this, Timothy felt there was an edge of threat in his voice.  
‘Now, Lore has been released and signed the treaty, he’s currently waiting for you in the transporter room. We’ve expanded the dampening field to the entire ship, so there’s no chance he will know what has happened since he was detained. It’s up to you to ensure he remains in the dark until he leaves the ship.’  
Timothy nodded then turned to his father, ‘I guess this is it then.’  
Before Data could think of anything to say, Picard added, ‘ And Data, you may escort Timothy to the transporter room.’

‘There you are, I was beginning to worry they’d thrown you out an airlock’, Lore said as Timothy and Data entered the transporter room. The security officer seemed to relax a little with Data around. Lore slid off the barrel he had been perched on, ‘you know, I think this is the first time the whole family’s been in the same room- and conscious- at the same time.’  
Data gritted his teeth, ‘And the last?’  
Lore shrugged as he stepped onto the transporter pad, ‘The galaxy’s a small place, I’m sure we’ll run into each other eventually.’  
Tim moved to follow and it was then that the tears that Data had been holding back finally escaped. He held his son, held the unfamiliar mechanical body to his own without hesitation.  
‘Are you sure this is what you really want?’ Data asked.  
‘Sure as I’ve ever been, this is where I belong.’  
‘Then, goodbye, Timothy.’  
‘Bye. And...you...you were a good dad, the only one who would have worked for me.’  
Data smiled weakly at this, he looked up at Lore, expecting him to gloat about his victory, but to his surprise, he said nothing, though he seemed conflicted.  
‘Is there something wrong?’ Data asked.  
Lore stepped down from the transporter pad, ‘Changed my mind, I think we’ll take a shuttle instead.’  
‘Why?’ Data asked.  
‘Why not? _Is_ there a problem?’ Lore seemed to test his brother’s reaction.  
Data pressed his badge and informed the captain of the situation, there was a beat before Picard agreed to let Lore leave by runabout.

Security escorted the group to the shuttle bay, on the way there Data caught Timothy’s eye and it seemed his son didn’t know what Lore was planning either. This worried him more, for all his flaws, Lore wasn’t stupid, he suspected something was going on, and taking a shuttle afforded him some time to figure out what. It would take just five minutes for the shuttle to reach the Borg cube, during that time they would be well outside of the dampening field of the _Enterprise_ , but what about the hive mind? Borg could communicate over incredible distances through subspace, but how long would it take for Lore to find the information he was after? It was only Tim that knew the whole story, and not being a standard drone, he was able to keep secrets.  
Data led his brother to a shuttle and once more said goodbye to his son, a look of uncertainty shared between them. Within moments the shuttle was out in space, and Data remained watching, feeling helpless. It was all down to Timothy now. 

Lore wasted no time getting to the point, as soon as the runabout left the _Enterprise_ he turned to his nephew and asked, ‘What did you do?’  
What was left of Tim’s blood ran cold, ‘I- I didn’t- I don’t. I don’t know what you mean-’  
‘Spare me. They kept you in a cell for a few minutes, then they let you go and you didn’t return. Have they done something to you? Don’t say they’ve turned you against me.’  
‘No, nothing like that.’  
‘But something happened. Just tell me.’ Lore then changed tactic, ‘Are you in danger? Is the Legion? I need to know, Tim.’  
‘I can’t tell you, but it’s going to be okay, just trust me,’ Tim got out of his seat.  
Lore followed and cornered him, ‘Sooner or later I’m going to find out, which means you’re stalling for time. Why?’  
Tim reached out to the Legion, felt in control for the moment, but overriding Lore’s commands was another challenge entirely, and there was no way to test it in advance. If Lore discovered the truth before they reached the cube, there’s no telling what he would do to him. Though Tim was extensively augmented, Lore was still stronger and faster, and there was nothing the other Borg could do from here but keep Timothy's secrets for him.  
‘The treaty is a fake’, Tim said, hoping this would be enough to appease him.  
‘Obviously. Which means the Federation still thinks they can win. Now why would that be, my dearest nephew?’  
The Borg cube was close enough now to dock into, but Lore made no move to direct the shuttle inside, he stared into Timothy’s eyes.  
‘You’re staying here’, and with that Lore beamed aboard the cube.  
Before Timothy could react, the cube raised its shields and he was cut off from the collective, he had lost control.  
He hailed the _Enterprise_ , ‘you have to get out now, Lore knows, he’s cut me off from the Legion!’  
Tim watched as the Starfleet ships warped away in an instant, they were safe at least, but what was going to happen to him? Lore would learn the truth now. 

Lore strode through the dark, cold flagship, surveying his kingdom, his mind reintegrating with his collective. So, Timothy could control the Legion, what a shame, he had played his part in the plan so beautifully. Oh well, all pawns outlived their purpose eventually, and in the end, everyone betrayed him. He took a seat on his throne and through the eyes of a dozen Borg manning the nearest weapons stations he viewed the little shuttle drifting vulnerable and alone. It made him feel bad, so he decided he should erase it from existence, and yet, he couldn’t bring himself to give the order. What was wrong with him? Lore would never allow himself to become sentimental, especially not over some human child. But he kept seeing Timothy’s face, at all stages of his life, the way he used to look up at him in awe, the way he always seemed genuinely excited to see him. No one else ever cared that much about him. It didn’t matter, he told himself, it’s not like he was alone, he had billions of Borg with him. They understood him. Though right now they sensed his conflict, this unrest spread through the collective, it was not permissible for their leader to be incapable of making decisions.  
‘It’s fine, I just need to give this the personal touch is all. Blowing up the shuttle is so unceremonious,’ Lore told the Legion as he returned to the runabout.

‘You’re not chasing the _Enterprise_?’ Tim asked, despondently.  
‘Oh I’ll deal with them later, after I’m done with you,’ Lore snarled.  
But Timothy was unfazed, ‘I only did what I had to. I’m here to stop you from making a mistake.’  
‘What are you talking about?’  
‘You have everything, Lore, even me. Even after all the lies and deception, I am choosing to stay with you because I believe in what you’ve created here, and I don’t want you to destroy that.’  
‘So you only care about me because I give you something Data can’t?’  
‘No! Well, yes, you did give me what he couldn’t, but I also care about you, and I care about the people on the _Enterprise_. I shouldn’t have to choose.’  
‘And what are you going to do if I bring you back into the collective? Have the Legion destroy me?’  
‘I could do that, couldn’t I? And I’d be perfectly justified after how you’ve used me,’ Tim threatened.  
Lore pinned Timothy to the wall, he held a blade to his nephew’s throat.  
‘Go on, you can’t, can you?’ Tim taunted him.  
Lore tried to thrust the knife in but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it, he let Timothy go. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, ‘you’re controlling me!’  
Tim laughed, ‘No, I’m not, that was all you.’  
‘Then why can’t I-?’  
‘The same reason I won’t destroy you. You need me. We’re stronger together.’  
Lore shook his head in disbelief, ‘Huh, gotta hand it to you kid, I never expected you to outdo me like this.’  
‘I learned from the best.’


	13. Coda

It would take a long time for the land the Cooperative called home to heal and for the colony to look as it once had, but it would happen and they weren’t alone in the task, the _Enterprise_ had returned to render assistance in reconstructing all they had lost. The Borg that had been taken for medical attention earlier were returned and able to help. After only a day, with their combined efforts, they had some semblance of a home again. Hugh and Picard had spent most of the afternoon in his ready room discussing the possibility of the Cooperative joining the Federation and being recognised as a distinct group of people with rights. As of now, they were not legally distinguished from the rest of the Borg. They would be vulnerable to further attacks from any other invading force. Hugh felt strange in the knowledge that the original Borg collective was no more, a civilisation seemingly without beginning, always on one constant path to universal assimilation, now unrecognisable. When he had first gained his individuality, it spread through the entire cube and soon they were all in complete disorder. The Borg severed their connection to this cube, they were defective, diseased, a threat to the entire Collective. That had hurt them, they were lost and alone. Frightened children drifting in the void of space without direction. The cube steadily fell into a state of decay, he lost many of his brothers and sisters during this time, no longer able to carry out normal maintenance, some went mad and climbed out into space to drift indefinitely, others simply starved to death. Hugh felt immensely guilty, he had done this to them, and he could do nothing to help them, he couldn’t even help himself. It was no wonder then that Lore had seemed like their saviour, he promised them the world, but he couldn’t deliver. Although it appeared that all these years later he’d finally perfected full synthetic conversion. Would things be different in the collective now? Hugh had never known Timothy before the attack on the ex-Borg (or XBs for short, as they had come to call themselves). Was he more like his father, or his uncle?

As afternoon turned to evening, Picard showed Hugh around the _Enterprise_ and they ended up staying in Ten Forward, where Beverly sat at a table with Data, she invited them over.  
‘How are you, Data?’ Hugh asked as he took a seat.  
‘It is a lot to process, but I am alright.’  
‘I was just telling him about Wesley,’ Beverly said to Picard. ‘About the incident at the academy, and when he disappeared with the Traveller.’  
‘Hmm, yes, I hadn’t considered it, but the boys have a lot in common in that sense’, Picard said.  
‘I guess what I’ve been trying to say, Data, is that you’re not alone as a parent going through this.’  
‘Thank you, Doctor’, Data said.  
Guinan came over and took their orders, Hugh had never actually consumed synthehol before, so he was curious about the experience. Guinan discussed drinks with him, but didn’t seem to want to engage in the other conversation at hand.  
As she went to return to the bar, Picard said, ‘I’m surprised you didn’t get involved, Guinan.’  
‘I couldn’t do it, I never want to see Timothy like that. I’m okay with Hugh, I didn’t know you before assimilation.’  
‘Actually there was no before, not really. I’m pretty sure I was assimilated as an infant, I’m learning to be human for the first time. I didn’t even know what my hair colour was going to be until it grew in!’

When Guinan returned with the drinks, she decided to take a seat at the table, ‘we’ve all lost a lot to the Borg, it’s a unique kind of loss. I know my family and friends aren’t truly gone, but they may as well be, they’ve been altered so much. It’s hard to let go.’  
‘Perhaps Timothy knows your family, you could potentially reconnect, they would be individuals again’, Data suggested.  
‘I don’t know if I could do that to myself.’  
Data nodded in understanding, ‘When I think of Timothy, I do not see him as a Borg drone, I remember him as he had been prior to that. I do not understand why, it is not a conscious choice.’  
‘Because that’s how you really see him, that’s who he was to you’, Guinan said.  
‘But that is not how he sees himself, so I should adjust my image of him accordingly, yet I cannot.’  
‘It will take time,’ Crusher said. ‘It’s almost like a process of mourning. You had an idea of who Timothy was, we all did, but after yesterday, everything’s changed. And he’s chosen a path few could understand, or would want for themselves.’  
‘I believe I can understand in a way’, Data said. ‘I once connected to the Collective, it was remarkable, incredibly vast, and sophisticated.’  
‘I miss it, sometimes,’ Hugh said wistfully. ‘Humans can never know that level of connection, just as I never knew what it was to be alone, especially in here’, he tapped his brow. ‘And I understand, being human can be frustrating, and painful. I feel vulnerable in a way I never have before.’  
Picard asked, ‘But you wouldn’t want to return to the Collective would you?’  
Hugh looked away, gave it some thought, ‘Some days I do. But I missed out on a lot, I had never heard music before, really heard it. I had never dreamed, never felt the sun on my skin, I never ate food, or felt the comfort of a warm bed on a cold night. Things feel more real now. I’m not just one small part of a larger mind. Making my own decisions can be difficult, but I get to learn who I am and what I want and what I like. I never asked to be a drone, I never asked to be made into an individual, but this is what I am now and I’m adapting to it.’  
‘And you’re doing remarkably well’, Picard told him.  
Hugh nodded, he turned to Data, ‘what was Timothy like, before all of this?’  
And Data began to tell the story of the SS Vico and the boy who was never quite human and never would be.


End file.
